
ch^« TE\fS 

Book - T ^ r ^ 

GoppghtlJ" 



GDPimlGHT DEPOSlIi 



Road Preservation and 
Dust Prevention 

BY 

WILLIAM PIERSON JUDSON, M. Am. Soc. C.E. 



Containing illustrated descriptions of the latest 
methods and materials used in the United 
States and in Europe for the preservation of 
surface and the prevention of dust on roads of 
broken stone, gravel or sand, with details of 
costs and results, which are here for the first 
time compiled and condensed into book form. 



Cloth, 6x9 inches. 144 pages. 16 illustrations. 
Price, $1.50 net. 



THE ENGINEERING NEWS PUBLISHING COMPANY 



CITY 



Roads and Pavements 



SUITED TO 



CITIES OF MODERATE SIZE. 



Fourth Edition, Revised. 



BY 

William Pierson Judson, 

Co7tsulting Engineer 

Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers 
Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (of Great Britain) 

Member of the Massachusetts Highway Association 

Member of the American Society of Municipal Improvements 

Author of " Road Preservation and Dust Prevention " 



J 3 5 



NEW YORK 
The Engineering News Publishing Co. 



LONDON 
Archibald Constable & Co., Ltd.. 

1909 



<\^^ . 

^w^^ 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two CODles Received 

ftb 20 wy 

. Oopyrisnt entry 
GLASS M. XXft No, 

'^\y,p^ s; '- 



Cop3'right, 1909 

by 

WM. PIERSON JUDSON. 

Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England, 
1909. 



CHAS. VAN BENTHUYSEN & SONS, 

PRINTERS, 

ALBANY, N. Y., U. S. A. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PREPARATION OF STREETS FOR PAVEMENTS— 

Reduction of width, Drainage. Subdrainage. Rollers. Roll- 
ins dirt roads. Wide tires. Pressure of traffic and of struc- 
tures. (8 illustrations) ; ' ' ; Pa-gey 

ANCIENT PAVEMENTS^^ .,,.,,, 

Comparisons. Stone wheel-tracks ;• competition with first 
railway. (2 illustrations) Page ly 

MODERN PAVEMENTS— 

Comparative loads. Cost, Pavements for steep grades : 
asphalt; vitrified brick; creosoted wood block; block stone; 
broken stone ; bituminous macadam. Crown of pavements : 
Rosewater formulae of 1898 and 1902. Form of crown: for 
macadam. Falls of horses on different pavements. Culverts : 
kinds ; sizes ; costs. Curbs : kinds ; sizes ; costs. Car-track 
construction. (4 illustrations) Page 25 

CONCRETE BASE FOR PAVEMENT— 

Need. Subgrade. Cement : simple outfit for easy tests ; fine- 
ness ; quickness; soundness; purity ; weight ; results. Manner 
of use. Aggregates. Sand. Proportions and mixing. Water. 
Machine-mixing. Spreading and ramming. Monolith. Sur- 
face. Setting. Wetting. Freezing : use of brine; limit of cold. 
Cost. Portland. Natural, Extra work. Table, 36 cities. 
(5 illustrations) Page 42 

BLOCK-STONE PAVEMENTS— 

Defects. Merits. Cost. Extent. (6 illustrations) Page 57 

CONCRETE PAVEMENT— 

Extent. Construction, Cost. Limitations. Page 64 

WOOD PAVEMENTS— 

Old. Cedar block. Modern. Australian. American kreo- 
done-cieosote ; creo-resinate ; cost. (5 illustrations) Page 66 

IRON-SLAG BLOCK PAVEMENTS— 

Method. Extent. Cost. Page 81 

3 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

VITRIFIED BRICK PAVEMENTS— 

Modes. Extent. Objections. Production. Characteristics. 
Qualities. Tests. Examination in use. Construction : base ; 
sand cushion ; joint-fillers ; expansion. On steep grades. Cost. 
Guarantee. (8 illustrations) Page 82 

AMERICAN SHEET-ASPHALT, ARTIFICIAL AND NA- 
TURAL — 

Comparison. History. Artificial. Natural. Companies. 
Sources. American artificial : materials and methods ; founda- 
tion ; binder ; wearing surface ; roUing. Steep grades. Crown. 
Railway tracks. Cost. Guarantee. Causes of failures. Block- 
asphalt; extent; cost. Comparative preferences, asphalt and 
brick. (9 illustrations) Page 103 

BITULITHIC PAVEMENT— 

Characteristics. Details. Methods. Cost. Opinions. (4 illus- 
trations) Page r3i 

BROKEN STONE ROADS— ( 

Extent. Rock for roads. Tests of rock. Motor-trucks to haul 
stone. Telford and Macadam : relative costs. Binder: mode 
of use; quality; quantity. Maximum grades. Construction. 
Subgrades of various kinds. Rock : crushing ; screening. 
Base. Top. Thickness. Crown. Cost. Caution. Main- 
tenance. Methods of repairs : raveling; rolling; ruts; clean- 
ing; cost. Re-surfacing: methods; cost. (18 illustrations) 

Page 138 

INDEX— Page 189 



PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. 



The local features of the first edition, having served their purpose, 
have been omitted, and modifications have been made to show the 
present apphcations of general methods, some of which have 
changed since 1894. The most marked change during the past eight 
years has been in the increased use of crushed stone for roadways of 
macadam and of telford construction, on the improved streets of 
villages and cities. A notable instance is that of the city of Greater 
New York, which contains outside its parks eight hundred miles of 
crushed stone roads built since 1894. 

This general increase has resulted in part from the work begun in 
1893 by the State of New Jersey, followed in 1894 by Massachu- 
setts, in 1895 by Connecticut and in 1S98 by New York. The 
examples given by the governments of these States in building 
highways by State aid and outside corporate limits, have led to 
the building by the municipalities of similar roads within many cities 
and villages, which have thus wisely profited by the experienced 
methods of State officials. 

The results have been an increasing extent of the best kinds of 
roads of broken stone, and a growing knowledge of the methods 
and machines by which alone can such roads be built and main- 
tained. These are here described under the heading " Broken 
Stone Roads," without however differing essentially from the 
descriptions given in the first edition. 

The grade of a city street is usually a fixed condition and not a 
theory, and it is often difficult to decide which is the best pavement 
for a fixed steep grade in a given climate, or how steep a grade will 
give good results with a given pavement. Tables of actual instances 
are given in order that engineers may know where to find condi- 

5 



PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. 

tions similar to their own, and where they may examine certain 
pavements in actual use. To watch the traffic using a steep paved 
slope or to examine its condition during a sharp shower or after a 
heavy rain, will suggest points as to the proper grade and crown 
which will be worth any amount of theorizing as to maximum 
grades. 

The sections entitled respectively " Concrete Base," " Block 
Stone," " Wood," " Vitrified Brick," " Asphalt," " Bituminous mac- 
adam '" and " Broken Stone," are made to accord w4th the latest 
records of methods and costs, using illustrations and tables for 
brevity. These records have been obtained from personal practice 
and investigation and from the publications and discussions of the 
several Societies of Civil Engineers, from the reports of the officials 
of States and Cities, and from the columns of Engineering News, 
The Engineering Record, Municipal Journal and Engineer, The 
Engineering Magazine and Municipal Engineering, and also directly 
from many civil engineers in addition to those whose names are 
mentioned. The uniform courtesy shown by civil engineers, both 
in the United States and abroad, in cordially meeting inquiries 
regarding their works, methods and results, and in freely giving all 
desired information, is a marked and peculiar characteristic of the 
Profession. 

These statements of facts and opinions are meant for those who 

wish to profit by the varied experiences of practical road makers. 

Wm. p. J. 
Oswego, New York, 
May I, 1902. 



PREFACE TO FOURTH EDITION. 

This edition is prepared in response to the continued call for the 
book as a guide to the building of rural highways as well as of city 
pavements. Additions and changes are made on pages 64, 81, 100, 
III, 112, 114, 119, 120, 121, 147, 149, 179 and 187, to make the 
book accord with the latest practice. Wm. P. J. 

Oswego, New York, 
February i, 1909. 




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CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS 

SUITED TO CITIES OF MODERATE SIZE. 



The extent of street-surface in the cities having a 
population of fifty thousand or less is usually such that 
only a portion can be paved or improved at any one 
time, and it is therefore necessary to carefully study 
the local conditions existing in any given city in order 
to determine which of the various kinds of pavement 
are best suited to the existing conditions of slope and 
of traffic and of treasury, and to the local supplies of 
proper materials. 

REDUCTION OF SURFACE TO BE PAVED. 

In cities which have always had dirt roads, the actual 
width of roadway is usually much greater than is 
needed for the traffic, and the subject should first be 
studied with a view to reducing the area to be paved 
by widening the bermes and the sidewalks on each side 
of the street, and thus narrowing the roadway to a 
width no greater than the traffic demands. Many 
cities have 42 feet to 45 feet width of dirt roadway on 
residence streets where 26 feet and 32 feet would be an 
ample width between the curbs of the same streets 

7 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

when they are paved ; 32 feet is the width most often 
used. The beauty of the streets will be much improved 
by such change and by forming on each side of the 
street a wider grassy berme outside of a row of trees, 
and this change will also give room for wider sidewalks, 
which in many cases are much needed. These wider 
bermes can usually be formed from the worn earth 
and sand w^hich must be scraped from the surface of the 
existing old roadways before attempting to form new 
ones. 

DRAINAGE OF ROADWAY. 

Having determined the proper widths of roadway of 
the various streets, their grades should be most closely 
studied in order to get the best results with the least 
change of existing grades ; it should be considered that 
the proposed pavements with their curbs, crossings, 
manholes and catch-basins will be, or should be, per- 
manent structures and they should be located carefully. 

Before paving any street, there should be in place a 
complete system of sewers and of pipes for water and 
for gas with service-branches to every lot on both sides 
of the street, and with manholes to give access to the 
sewers, and with catch-basins so arranged as to take 
the storm-waters without blocking the sewers with 
street-waste and silt, which can readily be prevented 
from entering the sewers by the use of recent improve- 
ments in catch-basins. In designing these sewers, and 
in considering whether existing sewers are sufficient, it 
must be remembered that the proposed pavements will 
bring the storm-water into the sewers more quickly and 
that larger capacity will be needed to carry the in- 
creased flow. 

8 



SUB-DRAINS. 

Careful consideration should also be given in order 
to decide whether the local conditions make it best to 
provide subways for electric wires. 

The thorough drainage of such streets as have been 
naturally muddy in spring and in fall, must be provided 
for before any method of paving or surfacing is consid- 
ered. The natural earth is the real roadbed which 
does the work, and it can only support the pave- 
ment — of whatsoever kind it may be — by being 
kept dry. 

In most of the cities, a portion of the streets have 
good grades and will drain naturally if rightly formed ; 
and it is the streets running at right angles to these 
which will be most difficult to drain, especially if they 
are on a hillside having springs in the subsoil, which 
must then have sub-drainage by tile drains before any 
form of surface or of pavement will be of permanent 
value or effect. 

There are many such streets on which rain water 
now stands until it evaporates. On the ordinary street 
in northern cities, the direct rainfall between fence- 
lines per mile, is equal to 30,000 tons or 8 million 
gallons of water every year, and there are many streets 
where this water has been left to evaporate or to soak 
into the ground. 

SUB-DRAINS. 

Any such roadbed, where, from any cause, water 
naturally stands and forms mud, must be thoroughly 
sub-drained. To put broken stone, or gravel, or any 
valuable material of any kind upon a bed of earth and 
ashes which rain will convert to mud, is to throw away 
both money and material. 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

The sub-drains should consist of Hues of two inch 
to four inch porous tile, or four inch to six inch vitri- 




fied tile laid with open joints ; one line on each side 
of a level road which receives drainage from both sides, 
or one line only on a hill-side road, this being put 




on its up-hill side to intercept ground-water from the 
higher ground. These tiles should be placed on an 
accurate grade, a foot or more below the bottom of the 
gutter, next to the curbs, away from tree-roots and 
below frost, in order to lead the ground-water to the 
catch-basins or road-culverts, from which it will run to 
the sewers or outlets with the surface-water from the 
pavement. 

The provision of this sub-drainage should be the 
first move toward making any permanent roadway on 
a flat street. 



ROLLING THE EARTH ROADBED. 

For any method of road-making or of paving which 
may be adopted, a steam roller of about ten to twelve 

lO 



ROLLING THE EARTH ROADBED. 

tons weight is requisite in order to compact the earth 
roadbed so that it will sustain the wheels which will 
pass over it. As well try to make the bricks of old 
Egypt without straw as to try to make the roads of 
to-day without a heavy steam roller. Every fully 
equipped road-builder has one or more. There are few 
cities which have not made some effective efforts to 
have good roads, and those which have done so know 
from experience that no good results can be expected 
until the proper tools are used. For any system of 
pavements or of roads, a steam roller is the thing first 
needed, and no contractor's bid should be considered 
unless he agrees to provide and use a steam roller of 
at least ten tons weight so proportioned as to distrib- 
ute the weight on wheels which cover and compress 
the full width of its track. 




The undulations and hollows which may be seen in 
the surface of many existing pavements are the direct 
results of the lack of a proper roller which would first 

Traction engines which leave an uncompressed strip in the middle of their track 
are not suitable for road-rollers and several attempts to use them in road-building- 
have been costly failures. 

II 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

liave disclosed the presence of the soft places in the 
earth roadbed, and then would have packed the grad- 
ing-material into them, so that the finished pavement 
would have had a solid and permanent foundation and 
a regular surface. 



GOOD EFFECT OF ROLLER ON DIRT ROADS. 

Especially valuable would such a roller be for cities 
having great extent of dirt roads, which could be formed 
by use of the wheeled scraper and then rolled to a 
smooth, hard surface, furnishing fine roadways during 
the summer months until the fall rains make them 
iTLuddy. By rolling the roads as they freeze, towns can 
make their earth streets smooth for the whole winter 
and so that a few inches of snow will give good 
sleighing. 

Nearly a mile per day of temporary, summer road- 
way can be made at small cost by a scraper, sprinkler, 
and steam roller working together. 

The sprinkler should be selected to have six-inch 
tires with rear axle two inches longer on each end than 
the front axle ; it should be built without a reach so 
that it can be turned without digging holes in the 
roadway, and should have a sprinkler w^hich is under 
the perfect control of the driver. 

The roller should be selected to be of not more than 
ten or twelve tons actual weight when loaded, so that 
it can cross ordinary bridges safely and can roll streets 
without crushing buried pipes. The roller should be 
tested to see that it can climb ten per cent grades when 
they are covered with loose stone, and also that it can 
hold its steam-pressure during continuous operation, 

12 



PRESSURE OE TRAFFIC. 



and it should also have a record for durability under 



rough usage. 



WIDE TIRES ON WHEELS. 

To supplement the good effect of a roller on the dirt 
roads, which are now cut by narrow tires, the use of 
wide tires on heavy wagons should be required. The 
following is a practicable way of initiating such a rule : 

Let the Board of Public Works of any city order that 
no wagon will be employed upon city work unless it 
has four-inch tires on its wheels, with the front axle 
eight inches shorter than the rear axle. This will 
make each wagon equal to two eight-inch rollers. 

Let the same order be applied to ice-wagons and to 
public carters, as a condition of issuing a license. A 
future date could be published at which all heavy 
wagons doing business in the city, including farmers' 
wagons from the surrounding country, shall have such 
wdieels. This publication will stop the sale of narrow- 
tired wagons, which will gradually be displaced by 
those with wide tires, when the roadways of the vicinity 
as Avell as of the city itself, wall no longer be so deeply 
cut and furrowed as now by the pressure of traffic. 

PRESSURE OF TRAFFIC. 

It is only necessary to consider the great pressure 
which ordinary traffic will put upon the roadbed in 
order to realize that no pavement can keep its form 
and its regular surface unless the earth roadbed, on 
which all the pressure finally comes, has been perfectly 
compacted before the pavement is laid over it ; for the 
pavement, of whatever material it may be, is merely a 

13 



CITV ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 




14 



COMPARISON WITH PRESSURE OF STRUCTURES. 

more or less rigid surface which receives the pressure 
of traffic and distributes it to the supporting earth. 
For instance, the ordinary coal wagon, weighing 1,200 
pounds, draws two tons of coal and has tires two inches 
wide. As the wagon stands on the pavement, the 
bearing surface does not exceed a length of one and 
one-half inches on each wheel ; the four wheels thus 
standing upon a total surface of twelve square inches, 
with a total pressure of 5,200 pounds, or 433 pounds per 
square inch, and this is applied w4th a rolling pressure 
which is most destructive. 



COMPARISON WITH PRESSURE OF STRUCTURES. 

The degree of pressure which this puts upon any 
pavement will be best appreciated by comparing it with 
the pressures per square inch upon the clay, sand, or 
earth underlying the foundations of some well-known 
great structures. 

The Cleveland viaduct 14 to 23 lbs. per sq. in. 

The 1894 London tower bridge 21 " " 

The sixteen-story office buildings of Chicago 21 " " 

The Memphis bridge piers 22 " " 

The Albany capitol 28 " 

The Brooklyn bridge anchorage 56 " " 

The earth supporting these structures is, of course, 
compressed to the greatest degree in its natural forma- 
tion, but the average pressure of these structures is less 
than one-sixteenth of the pressure concentrated on an 
ordinary wagon wheel. 



15 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 




Ancient Roman Road, 




Early Eighteenth Century Road. 




Late Eighteenth Century Road. 




■yy/// 



Modern Macadam Road. 



RELATIVE THICKNESS OF ANCIENT AND MODERN ROADS. 

l6 



ANCIENT PAVEMENTS. 



Paved highways were built by the Romans through 
Europe and throughout the Empire two thousand to 
twenty-two hundred years ago, and portions of these 
pavements still endure. Many of them have been 
examined to learn whether the details of their con- 
struction included features which are now worthy of 
imitation. 

It is found that the locations of these roads were 
usually made in the simplest manner, ignoring natural 
obstacles and directing the course by straight lines 
toward prominent landmarks. Upon the lines thus 
defined, the width of the proposed roadway . was then 
marked by two parallel furrows which were eight feet 
to twenty feet apart according to the importance of the 
highway. Between these furrows all unstable materials 
were excavated, usually to a depth of about three feet, 
and in this undrained trench the road materials were 
placed in more or less regular layers. 

The statumen^ or base, was formed of one course, or 
sometimes of two courses, of large flat stones laid in 
lime mortar, and was usually about fifteen inches thick. 
Upon this was formed a 9-inch course of small frag- 
ments of stone which were embedded in sufficient lime- 
mortar to fill their voids, and which thus bound 
together the tops of the large stones of the statumen ; 



17 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

upon this, the nucleus was formed of fragments of 
gravel, stone, pottery and brick mixed with Hme-mor- 
tar to form a concrete, which was consoHdated by ram- 
ming, and was made about six inches thick. Upon 
this the summa crusta (top crust) ox pavhnentuTn (hard 
surface) was formed of closely-jointed, irregular stones, 
which formed a mosaic about six inches thick, the top 
of which was practically on a level with the adjoining 
natural surface of the ground. 

In and near the cities \\\^ pavimentuin was formed 
of larger irregular blocks of basalt, or porphyry or lava, 
two to two and one-half feet in length and width and 
twelve inches to fifteen inches in thickness, which were 
dressed and fitted together with extreme accuracy and 
were bedded in cement. 

In a general way there were thus used various ma- 
terials and varied methods, none of which showed any 
attempt at drainage of the subgrade, and all of which 
were wasteful of the materials and labor, which then 
cost nothing but the lives of captives, w^ho were forced 
to build these highways for the armies of their 
conquerors. 

The results were roads which were remarkable for 
their strength and durability and for little else. If 
anyone were so unwise as to attempt to build similar 
roads now, the cost would be from four to eight times 
the present cost of our most expensive modern pave- 
ments which are, in every way, better for modern uses, 
and upon which the cities of the United States are 
estimated to have expended half a billion of dollars. 

STONE WHEEL-TRACKS. 

This peculiar form of stone pavement has long been 
in use in the midst of the roughly paved streets of 

i8 



STONE WHEEL-TRACKS. 

many Italian cities and towns, and in some of the 
largest Scotch and English cities, which facts probably 
suggested its use on the Albany and Schenectady turn- 
pike in 1833, when wheel-tracks, which are still in use, 
and which are here shown by a photograph taken in 
1 90 1 , were built on two miles of the worst parts of this 
main highway to the West, and which were later 
made to cover the dry and sandy parts of the fourteen 
miles between the two cities. 

There are, in 1902, no memories among the oldest 
residents along the road and no published accounts in 
local histories, of the origin and details of this interest^ 
ing pavement, and those which are here given were 
only found by search amidst a mass of old letters and 
papers which were saved from an abandoned gate- 
house by Wheeler B. Melius Esq. of the Albany His- 
torical Society. 

The turnpike itself was opened to travel in 1805, be^ 
ing made twelve feet wide of gravel at a cost of $8,400 
per mile. After ten years of attempts to maintain this 
gravel road under the trafHc of many heavy narrow- 
tired wagons drawn by four or six horses, a " sunken 
pavement " of cobbles was built on the dry and sandy 
parts of the road, and broken quarry stone to the depth 
of twelve inches, was " bedded " on the w^et and clayey 
parts, the edges being " bonded " by lines fifteen to 
sixteen feet apart, of small boulders twelve inches to 
twenty-four inches in diameter embedded in the earth 
along each side. Under date of January 8, 1831, the 
President and Directors of the Turnpike Company 
reported to the Legislature that they had "hitherto 
been unable to render said road hard and solid and to 
keep the hard materials (gravel, broken quarry-stone 

19 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

and cobbles) on the surface of the earth." In April, 
1 83 1, strenuous protests were made by the stockholders 
of this Turnpike Company, Chancellor Kent among 
others, against the effect of the charter granted in 1826 
to the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad Company, on the 
ground that 

" Should the Rail Road Company succeed, their operations will 
necessarily diminish materially the tolls of the Turnpike Company, 
and thus sap the consideration upon the faith of which the latter 
have constructed their road." 

Referring to the application of the Railroad Com- 
pany for leave to run a side-track into the heart of 
Albany, Chancellor Kent wrote from New York under 
date of April 7, 183 1 : 

"If that would not be an interference with the rights of the 
Turnpike Company, then nothing would be an interference short of 
plowing up the Turnpike Road." 

It was feared that the Railroad might eventually dis- 
place the stages, the tolls from which formed a large 
portion of the revenues of the previously-chartered 
Turnpike Company, then amounting to ^5,137 per 
annum ; one-third of which was paid out to gate- 
keepers and overseers and the balance was expended 
in repairs and occasional small dividends: the tolls 
were levied on a peculiar system by which a four-horse 
stage paid 42,H cents to enter upon the road at either 
end and the same amount to leave it, or 87 cents for 
each single trip. 

The steam railroad was, however^ built, and was 
opened to operation on September 12, 183 1, as the first 
exclusively passenger railroad in the world. The 
handling of freight by the railroad was not begun till De- 

20 



STONE WHEEL-TRACKS. 

cember 6, 1832, as detailed in a letter from the manager 
to the president, when three cords of wood, making 
two car-loads, were taken to Albany, and were the first 
freight carried on what is now the New York Central 
Railroad. In order to compete with the railroad, the 
Turnpike Company then made many efforts to arrange 
to build another railroad of their own along the side of 
the turnpike,"^ and the failure of these efforts resulted 
in deciding, in 1832, to lay the "stone rails," of which 
twenty thousand linear feet were brought from Whalen's 
limestone quarries at Flint Hill, eight miles up the 
Mohawk valley from Schenectady, and were laid in 
1833 and 1834, and extended later. Sections of this 
stone wheel-track, in some cases half a mile or more in 
length, are still in good condition and in daily use, as 
showm in the photograph made in 1901. 

The " stone rails " were made four inches thick and 
were roughly but eighteen inches to twenty-four inches 
wide, of any length from two to eight feet, with square 
ends to be laid close together and with both faces flat 
to permit of turning over when worn. The slabs now 
show a concave surface worn one to two inches at the 
center. They were bedded in the gravel and broken 
stone of the roadway, by two men at the rate of 1 25 feet 
per day or one and one-half cents per running foot, the 
cost of the stone delivered ready to lay being thirteen 
cents per running foot. This made the wheel tracks 
cost ^1,530 per mile while the cobble paving two feet 
to three feet wdde between the tracks and five feet wide 
on each side of the tracks cost $1,610 per mile: Form- 
ing the roadbed cost $160 per mile, or a total of $3,300 
per mile completed. A few slabs which have been 

* Finally accomplished in igoi-2 by building a double track electric road. 
The construction of a macadam road, in place of the stone wheel-tracks and 
cobbles, was begun by the State in 1905. 

21 



CITV ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 




5 ft. of large coblile pavement. <^ 



6 ft. of trackway. 



> 



18 in. to 24 in. wide 
4 in to 5 in. tliick, 



Road from Alb.\xy west to Schenectady, N. Y., 1901. 
Built by Turnpike Compan}- in 1834. 




Groove worn 
Sin. wide, 3 in. deep 

Road west from Kingston, Ulster Co., N. Y., 1902. 
Built b3' Turnpike Compan^^ in 1862. 

STONE WHEEL-TRACKS. 
22 



2 ft. wide, 
G in. thick. 



STONE WHEEL-TRACKS. 

broken have from time to time been replaced by old 
blue-stone curbs from Albany. 

About 1862, a system of similar wheel-track roads 
was begun in Ulster County, N. Y., when Davis 
Winne built a blue-stone track-way as a toll-road from 
Kingston eight miles up the Delaware and Ulster 
Valley to the blue-stone quarries in the Catskill moun- 
tains. This proved to be so successful that branches, 
and other roads of the same sort, were soon built and 
are still in decreasing use. 

The ease of traction on these smooth slabs led to 
an increase of the loads drawn upon them, until eight 
tons has been and is an ordinary load for two horses to 
bring from the quarries in the hills to the wharves at 
Kingston and Rondout. Loads of twelve to fourteen 
tons drawn by three horses are now of daily occurence, 
and loads of seventeen tons actual weight have some- 
times been drawn by four horses : all loads being 
weighed to determine the tolls. 

These great loads were formerly carried upon nar- 
row tires of one and one-half to two inches which 
speedily cut furrows in the hard stones, so that the 
slabs six to eight inches thick were cut through in 
three or four years and required renewal. Along the 
roadsides are now many such slabs cut nearly through 
and laid aside, while all the slabs w^iich are in use show 
furrows ranging from one to five inches deep and three 
to four inches wide. 

A railroad now parallels and crosses this highway 
reaching the quarries or passing near them. Wide 
tires, which are required in the river cities and towns, 
are used on all wagons carrying these loads, so that 
four-inch slabs of blue-stone are now used for renewals 

23 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

of the wheel-tracks and cost ten cents per running foot 
of slabs twenty-four inches wide. The actual cost of 
the original wheel-track road built in 1862 was about 
^3,000 per mile ; the high prices induced by the War 
increasing the cost fifty per cent over the contract-price 
made in 1861. 



24 



MODERN PAVEMENTS. 



Comparative loads. — In considering the desirability 
of the different road-surfaces and pavements, it may be 
noted that a team drawing one ton on a good dirt road 
can, with the same effort, take two tons over a good 
macadam surface. Passing from this to, a good block- 
stone pavement, six tons could be drawn as easily, and 
this load can be increased to eight tons on good wood- 
block or new vitrified brick, or to ten tons on a bitu- 
minous macadam or an asphalt pavement. 



COST OF PAVEMENTS. 

The following table shows the conditions and costs 
in 1894 i^ the 32 cities named, 8 of which had wood- 
block pavements, 27 of which had sheet-asphalt pave- 
ments, and all of which had block-stone, six having 
sandstone, and the rest granite. The conditions and 
costs in 1 90 1 are shown in detail in the several 
chapters. 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 



TABLE. 





Block-Stone. 


Sheet 


Wood. 


CITY AND STATE. 


Granite. 


Sandstone . 


Asphalt. 


Cedar-block. 




Cost, 
Sq. Yard. 


Cost, 
vSq. Yard. 


Miles. 


Cost, 
Sq. Yard. 


Miles. 


Least 
Cost. 


Albany, N. Y 


$2 90 

3 ?>7 

1 49 

3 90 

2 Zl 






$3 12 

2 75 

3 00 
3 30 
3 00 
3 50 

2 90 

3 00 
2 54 

2 35 

3 20 

2 55 
2 80 

2 93 
2 75 






Allegheny, Pa 










Atlanta, Ga 










Boston, Mass 




4 
II 

150 

24 






Brooklyn, N. Y 








Buffalo, N. Y 


$3 25 






Chicago, 111 

Cincinnati, Ohio 


3 00 

4 20 

3 71 

3 40 

4 25 
2 74 


648 


$1 10 




Columbus, Ohio 




II 

4 






Denver, Col 








Detroit, Mich 








Kansas City, Kan 

Kansas City, Mo 




2 
16 


26 

43 
47 
63 


I 50 

I 35 

I OS 

76 


2 90 


^lihvaukee. Mis 


2 37 

1 67 

2 40 

4 75 

3 50 
2 32 


Minneapolis, Minn 

Nashville, Tenn 




2 




New Orleans, La 




8 
52 
23 


3 65 
3 00 
2 68 






New York, N. Y 








Omaha, Neb 




38 


I 52 


Oswego, N. Y 


2 45 


Philadelphia, Pa 

Pittsburg, Pa 


2 41 
2 38 

2 00 

3 25 




2 50 

3 35 














Portland, Me 










Providence, R. I 






2 65 
2 60 






Rochester, N, Y 


n 005 


9 






San Francisco, Cal 


2 00 

2 05 

1 15 

3 56 
3 20 

3 15 

2 c8 






St. Paul, Minn 






2 70 

2 45 
2 50 

1 9S>^ 

2 25 


30 


I 10 


Syracuse, N. Y 

Toledo, Ohio 


3 00 


10 
125 








Utica, N. Y 


2 50 






Washington, D. C 

Wilmington, Del 






















Average of prices 


$2 90 


$2 71 




$2 81 




$1 19 



PAVEMENTS FOR STEEP GRADES. 

In selecting a pavement for a given street of w^hich 
the grade cannot be improved, the choice will often be 
limited by the fact that the grade is too steep to permit 
the use of a pavement which might otherwise be 
preferred. 

26 * 



PAVEMENTS EOR STEEP GRADES. 

The most useful information on the subject can be 
obtained from the teamsters and horsemen of cities in 
which different pavements on varying grades have 
been in use. If it is generally agreed that certain 
pavements are shunned by teamsters because their 
horses slip and fall when going down a certain street 
with a load, it will evidently be unwise to repeat the 
construction of the same kind of pavement with equal 
slope in a similar climate. 

Under the headings of "Asphalt," "Brick," and 
" Broken Stone," there are given numerous instances 
of extremely steep grades upon which these pavements 
are actually built in various cities named. Examina- 
tions of these may furnish to the observer conclusive 
reasons for or against copying them, or may suggest 
changes in detail which would give better results. In 
examining these steep grades, it should be borne in 
mind that the selection of a pavement for a given street 
may have been made directly or indirectly by the prop- 
erty owners, who have not necessarily chosen the pave- 
ment best suited to attract traflfic, but who, preferring a 
quiet street, sometimes select a pavement which trafific 
will shun. 

Sheet Asphalt, — The practical limit of slope for busi- 
ness streets paved with asphalt is 4 feet per 100 feet, 
though any slope steeper than 3 feet per 100 feet is 
not advisable on a main thoroughfare. 

On residence streets grades as steep as six per cent, 
are common, and much steeper ones often occur as 
shown on page 118: The residents accepting the incon- 
venience resulting from a few days of icy roadway 
because of the many and great advantages during the 
rest of the year. 

27 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

On semi-business streets having steep grades, it is a 
common and good arrangement to lay a sixteen feet 
asphalt roadway in the center, with an 8-foot strip of 
block-stones or chamf erred bricks, or grooved-joint 
wood blocks, on each side. In Syracuse, N. Y., on East 
Genesee street, and on Bellevue avenue, this was done 
in 1897-8, using Medina sandstone blocks. In some 
cases where this has been done, the asphalt has been 
used almost exclusively. 

Even on flat streets, however, in cold, misty weather, 
horses slip badly, so that in Washington it is common 
to remove the shoes from horses in w^inter because the 
hoofs slip less. In Brooklyn, on Christmas, 1 901, many 
delivery-wagon horses were seen with burlaps tied over 
their hoofs to give foot-hold on the asphalt. 

There will be parts of two or three days during most 
winters when this difficulty w411 occur with both asphalt 
and brick, both on steep and on level streets unless 
sand is strew^n. 

Vitrified Brick. — No complaints are made of slip- 
ping upon grades of five per cent, but these will be more 
or less slippery as soon as this slope is exceeded, with- 
out regard to ice. Observations show that horses 
begin to slip on brick as soon as the grade reaches six 
per cent, and that for any slope over five per cent it 
will be advisable to use special brick having a beveled 
top affording a foot-hold in the joints, which should be 
filled with asphaltic cement and sharp sand. With 
this precaution vitrified brick can be used on slopes as 
steep as are shown on page 98. 

Creosoted Wood Block, — The same general condi- 
tions apply to these as to asphalt for the grades less 



28 



PAVEMENTS EOR STEEP GRADES. 

than three per cent, provided sharp sand is strewn over 
the surface when needed, as for asphalt. 




...QV^sr-- 



mm 












-^^^'<^-" 

^^^ 




For grades steeper than three per cent, the special 
grooved joint here shown in detail is filled with 
asphaltic cement and coarse sharp sand, and this gives 
as good a foot-hold as grooved brick. 

Block Stone. — This may be used in its ordinary form 
upon slopes less than ten per cent, but for this slope 
and greater, the blocks should have chamfered tops 
and special joints to give better foothold. The best 
manner of construction is detailed on page 6i. 

Broke7t Stone. — The maximum grade of macadam is 
fixed rather by the difficulties of maintenance than 
by conditions which govern the other pavements. 
Any grade steeper than five per cent offers increased 
difficulties from the wash of storm-water, although 
many instances are given on pages 164-166, where 
these actual steep grades were accepted by the engi- 
neers who built these roads as being unavoidable 
features which would have been changed if possible. 



29 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

Concrete, — On any slope, and even on a level street, 
a Portland-cement concrete surface needs to be grooved, 
as described on page 64, in order to give a good foot- 
hold. 

B till lit hie. — This pavement, which is a bituminous 
macadam and is described on page 131, has proved 
during extensive use since 1 901, to be specially adapted 
to meet the difficulties which have heretofore attended 
or prevented the use of broken stone on steep grades. 
While it presents a surface which gives secure foot-hold 
on steep slopes, it does not afford any chance for toe- 
calks to loosen it or for storm-water to gully it. 

CROWN OF PAVEMENT. 

The ideal road-surface for a rainless climate would 
be flat, but the practical road-surface for all weathers 
must be curved or " crowned," in order to quickly shed 
water to the gutters. This is the sole reason for giv- 
ing a " crown," and it is therefore logical to reduce the 
amount of curvature when the slope of the street gives 
the needed drainage. 

To suit the crown to the slope, engineers have made 
frequent use of the formulae devised in 1898 by Andrew 
Rosewater; M.Am. Soc. C. E., city engineer of Omaha, 
Neb., by which the crown is computed for any width 
and any grade : the amount of crown decreasing as 
the slope increases. 

The 1898 formulce ai'e as follows : 

For Brick, Stone and Wood block := C = , (20-/) 
' 1600 '' •' ^ 

For Sheet-asphalt, C = ^ (9-/) 

C == crown of pavement in feet, 
W = distance between curbs in feet, 
y= grade of street in feet per 100. 



30 



CROWN OF PAVEMENT. 

SrANDARD Crowns by Formul/E of 1S9S. 



Distance 

BETWEEN 

Curbs 
in feet. 



20 
25 
30 
35 
40 
45 
50 
55 
60 
65 
70 
75 
80 



For Block-stone, Brick and Wood-block 
Crown given in hundredths of feet. 



Grade of street in feet per hundred. 



Level. 


1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


25 


24 


23 


21 


20 


19 


18 


16 


15 


32 


31 


29 


27 


25 


24 


22 


21 


19 


3« 


36 


34 


32 


30 


29 


27 


25 


23 


44 


42 


40 


3« 


35 


33 


31 


29 


27 


50 


48 


45 


43 


40 


38 


35 


33 


30 


57 


54 


51 


48 


45 


43 


40 


37 


34 


63 


60 


57 


54 


50 


47 


44 


41 


3« 


69 


66 


62 


59 


55 


52 


48 


45 


42 


75 


72 


68 


64 


60 


57 


53 


49 


45 


«7 


78 


74 


70 


65 


61 


57 


53 


49 


88 


84 


79 


75 


70 


66 


62 


57- 


53 


94 


90 


«5 


80 


85 


71 


66 


61 


57 


100 

1 


95 


90 


«5 


80 


75 


70 


65 


60 



(1) 


*-< 


rC 


c 








<J 


,i_r 


^ 


r^ 


V 


OJ 


P-. 


t ) 






CiO 


<u ^ 


00 


t/) 




Tt 


c 




(t! 


r! 


rCl 







S-. 


a, 


U 


(U 





c/) 





For Sheet-Asphalt 




Distance 


Crown given in hundredths of feet. 




between 






Curbs 


Grade of street in feet per hundred. 




in feet. 








( 










Level. 


1 


2 


3 


4 


5 






20 


30 


27 


23 


20 


17 


13 


<u 

•1 




25 


3« 


33 


29 


25 


21 


17 


^"^ 




30 


45 


40 


35 


30 


25 


20 


"^ 




35 


53 


47 


41 


35 


29 


23 


<L) Oh 




40 


60 


54 


47 


40 


34 


27 


" m 




45 


68 


60 


53 


45 


38 


30 


S.£ 




50 


75 


67 


59 


50 


42 


33 


tn ^ 




55 
60 


«3 
90 


73 
80 


64 

70 


55 
60 


46 

50 


37 
40 


"^ 




65 


98 


87 


76 


65 


54 


43 


^^ 




70 


105 


94 


82 


70 


59 


47 


0) 




75 


113 


100 


88 


75 


63 


50 


C/3 




80 


120 


107 


93 


80 


67 


53 







31 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

1902 FormulcE. — Observations since 1898 have con- 
vinced Mr. Rosewater that American sheet-asphalt 
pavements should have the maximum crown practi- 
cable for traffic, as a means of protection against the 
standing of water in the small surface depressions. 

Observation also suggested to him an increase of 
crown of all pavements on various gradients because, 
under the 1898 formulae, the pavements on grades 
varying from three to eight per cent failed to shed 
water to the gutters quickly enough to prevent freezing 
in sleety weather, or to avoid its spreading in warm 
weather. 

To meet these objectionable conditions, radically 
different formulae have been devised in 1902 by Mr. 
Rosewater as substitutes for those of 1898. 



The \(^o'i fo7'midce are as follows : 



Ic- -■ 

pressed European rock-asphalt, - - S ^°°° 



For brick, stone-block, wood-block and com-") W (100 — 4/) 



For American sheet-asphalt ") ^ W (100—4/) 

(composed of sand and asphalt or of compressed \^ -—■ ^^^^ 



natural sand-rock), 

C = crown of pavement in feet, 
W = distance between curbs in feet, 
y = grade of street in feet per 100. 



32 



CROWN OF PAVEMENT. 



Standard Crowns by Formula of 1902. 





For Block-stone, Brick and Wood-block 




Distance 




Crown given in hun 


dredths of feet. 






BETWEEN 




















Curbs 




Grade of street in feet per hundred. 






in feet. 






















Level. 


1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


20 


33 


32 


31 


29 


28 


27 


25 


24 


23 


21 


20 


19 


17 


16 


15 


25 


42 


40 


38 


2>1 


35 


?>?> 


32 


30 


28 


27 


25 


23 


22 


20 


18 


30 


SO 


48 


46 


44 


42 


40 


38 


36 


34 


32 


30 


28 


26 


24 


22 


35 


S8 


56 


54 


51 


49 


47 


44 


42 


40 


?>1 


35 


ZZ 


30 


28 


26 


40 


67 


64 


61 


59 


56 


Sl> 


51 


48 


45 


43 


40 


2,7 


35 


32 


29 


45 


7S 


72 


69 


66 


63 


60 


57 


54 


51 


48 


45 


42 


39 


36 


33 


50 


83 


80 


n 


Th 


70 


67 


63 


60 


SI 


53 


50 


47 


43 


40 


37 


55 


Q2 


88 


84 


81 


11 


IZ 


70 


66 


62 


59 


55 


51 


48 


44 


40 


60 


100 


96 


92 


88 


84 


80 


76 


72 


68 


64 


60 


56 


52 


48 


44 


65 


108 


104 


100 


95 


91 


87 


82 


78 


74 


69 


65 


61 


56 


52 


48 


70 


117 


112 


107 


103 


98 


93 


89 


84 


79 


75 


70 


65 


61 


56 


51 


75 


12-; 


120 


IIS 


110 


105 


100 


95 


90 


85 


80 


75 


70 


65 


60 


55 


80 


133 


128 


123 


117 


112 


106 


lOI 


96 


91 


85 


80 


75 


69 


64 


59 





For Sheet-Asphalt 






Distance 


Crown given in hundredths of feet. 




BETWEEN 








Curbs 
in feet. 


Grade of street in feet per hundred. 




Level. 


1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


20 


40 


38 


37 


35 


34 


32 


30 


29 


27 


26 


24 


22 


21 


25 


50 


48 


46 


44 


42 


40 


38 


36 


34 


32 


30 


28 


26 


30 


60 


58 


55 


53 


50 


48 


46 


43 


41 


38 


36 


34 


31 


35 


70 


67 


64 


62 


59 


56 


S3 


50 


48 


45 


42 


39 


36 


40 


80 


77 


74 


70 


67 


64 


61 


58 


54 


51 


48 


45 


42 


45 


90 


86 


83 


79 


76 


72 


68 


65 


61 


58 


54 


50 


47 


50 


100 


96 


92 


88 


84 


80 


76 


72 


68 


64 


60 


56 


52 


55 


110 


106 


lOI 


97 


92 


88 


84 


79 


75 


70 


66 


62 


57 


60 


120 


115 


1 10 


106 


lOI 


96 


91 


86 


82 


77 


72 


67 


62 


65 


130 


125 


120 


114 


109 


104 


99 


94 


88 


83 


78 


73 


68 


70 


140 


134 


129 


123 


118 


112 


106 


lOI 


95 


90 


84 


78 


73 


75 


150 


144 


138 


132 


126 


120 


114 


108 


102 


96 


90 


84 


78 


80 


160 


154 


147 


141 


134 


128 


122 


115 


109 


102 


96 


90 


83 



33 



C ITV ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

Under the heading of "Asphalt," page ii8, and 
" Brick," page 95, will be found the record of the actual 
present practice for crown on level grades and 30 feet 
width in the cities named. 

Form of Crown. — The form of crown should be a 
parabolic curve nearly flat at the center, for traffic, and 
sloping more quickly toward the sides, for drainage. 

When the amount of crown has been computed 
from a formula or a table, or when an experienced 
engineer has preferred to determine it arbitrarily, 
as is very often well done, the form of the curve can 
be determined thus for any width or crown : divide 
the space from center to curb into twelve equal 
parts. Take the center ordinate, or total "crown," 
as unity; then the successive ordinates, measured up 
from the base-line, w411 be: At center, i.oo, .99, .97, .94, 
.89> .83. -75. -66, .55, .44. .30, 16, .0 at curb. Or 
stretch a line from curb to curb on level with the 
center, and measure down the corresponding amount. 
Thus if the width is 30 feet from curb to curb, and the 
crown has been determined to be half a foot, the ordi- 
nates measured down at intervals of i J^ feet will be in 
inches and decimals. At the center o inches — 0.06, 
0.18,0.36,0.66, 1.02, 1.50, 2.04, 2.70, 3.36, 4.20, 5.04, 
6.00 inches at curb. This shows a side-slope of about 
five per cent on the third next the curb. These fig- 
ures may be useful in making a template for fixing 
the curve of a pavement-surface, or for forming the 
sand-cushion of a brick pavement as described on 

page 95- 

For Macadam, it is usual to consider that the con- 
ditions to be met are reversed, and it being necessary 
to prevent storm-water from following the road-surface, 

34 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

the " crown " for macadam is increased as the slope 
increases; one-half inch per foot being usual on level 
grade, and a maximum of three-quarters inch per foot 
on steep slopes, increasing to one inch on excessive 
slopes. This produces in theory a ridge in the center, 
with a straight slope oi ^% inches on each side for a 
level 2 2 foot roadway. But in practice, the roller flats the 
central " ridge " down, and produces a curve which is 
flat in the center and slopes most at the sides, which is 
the form desired. 

FALLS ON DIFFERENT PAVEMENTS. 

As to the relative liability to accidents from slipping 
of horses' feet upon different pavements, observations 
were made for Captain (now General) Francis V. Greene, 
M. Am. Soc. C. E., during a period of six months on 
thirty-six various streets in ten different cities, viz.: 
New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, 
New Orleans, Washington, Buffalo, Louisville and 
Omaha. The result of these observations, and of 
similar ones made by Col. William Haywood, M. List. 
C. E. in London, by George F. Deacon, M. Inst. C. E. 
in Liverpool and by French engineers in Paris, were 
read before the Am. Soc. C. E. on December i6, 1885. 
Over 800,000 horses and 81,000 miles of travel were 
observed in the ten cities of the United States, with 
the result of showing that a horse may travel, for each 
fall that occurs — 

272 miles on wood-block pavement. 

413 miles on granite-block pavement. 

583 miles on sheet-asphalt pavement. 
These results in the cities of the United States dif- 
fer radically from those obtained for Colonel Haywood, 

36 



CULVERTS. 

in London, where it was required that horses should 
be smooth-shod, instead of having the sharp toe-calks 
which are generally used in the United States, and 
where European rock-asphalt is used instead of Trini- 
dad asphalt and sand. The results observed in Lon- 
don were — 

446 miles on wood-block pavement. 

132 miles on granite-block pavement. 

191 miles on sheet-asphalt pavement. 

CULVERTS. 

To carry water beneath a roadway, culverts are 
variously built of cast-iron pipes, of masonry, of concrete 
and of double-strength vitrified pipe. 

The bottom-line of culverts is usually fixed at the 
bottom-grade of the side-ditches so that the available 
height is limited, and large waterway is often obtained 
by using two, and sometimes three, parallel lines of 18, 
24 or 30-inch pipes. 

If the ditch drains a hillside having a southern 
exposure, the midday sun of winter will supply a trickle 
of water which will freeze at night, and under this con- 
dition such pipe culverts will soon freeze solid and 
sometimes burst. 

For most conditions, box-culverts of rubble masonry or 
of monolithic concrete with embedded expanded metal 
in the covers, are much preferable to pipes, being less 
ready to freeze and less liable to be damaged if frozen. 

For equal areas of waterway and depending upon 
the local conditions of stone-supply and freight rates, 
the relative costs wall usually be in the order first 
named above. 

When the span of a masonry culvert is two feet or 
more and 6-inch to 8-inch cover-stones are used, they 

Z7 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

should be carried on suitable I-beams placed two feet 
centers, in order to carry ordinary traffic safely. If 
there is height enough a rough stone arch may be best 
and cheapest. 

CURBS. 

Curbs should be set or re-set before beginning the 
pavement of which they are a necessary adjunct. The 
trench for the curb should first be cut and graded, and 
sub-drained if needed, and if concrete foundation for the 
curb is proposed, the curb-stones should be accurately 
aligned and graded upon fragments of stone, around 
and over which the concrete is to be formed and 
tamped : the pavement-base, if any, and the pavement 
itself being afterward formed against the face of the 
curbs. 

Curbs are used of various materials which are some- 
what as follows for the different sections of the United 
States ; there being noticed a general tendency toward 
the use of concrete. 

Kinds.— Y ox the New England States, granite and 
also concrete. For New York and the cities along the 
Hudson and the coast, and for Washington in part, 
" bluestone " (a tough sandstone) from Ulster county, 
N. Y., and limestone and also concrete, of which there 
was built 202 miles in the Borough of Brooklyn during 
1900. For central, southern and western New York, 
and for adjacent Ohio and Pennsylvania, Oxford " blue- 
stone," from Chenango county, N.Y., and Medina sand- 
stone, from Orleans county, N. Y., and limestone, and 
also concrete. 

For the western and southern cities, granite, and 
sandstone from Kettle River, Minn., and from Berea, 
Ohio, and from Colorado, and also concrete, the latter 

38 



CURBS. 



being much used in Chicago, St. Paul, and Cleveland. 
Brick curbs are used with brick pavements in Louisiana 
and Texas, and have been observed in two northern 
towns in connection with brick gutters for macadam- 
ized streets. These were special brick, 2 ^^ -inch by 
4>^-inch by 8 >^ -inch, with one corner rounded, set 
on end upon concrete with the edge toward the road- 
way and showing ^yi inches above the paved gutter: 
they seemed to be poor substitutes for stone or con- 
crete, as the material is unsuited for the purpose : this 
opinion is confirmed by Willis Fletcher Brown, con- 
sulting engineer of Toledo, Ohio, whose extended 
experience with brick pavements is well known. 

Sizes. — The dimensions of stone curbs vary in the 
cities from sixteen to twenty-four inches for depth, five 
to six inches for thickness, and three to five feet for 
length. The top is always beveled to take the slope 
of the sidewalk to the gutter. 



Z 1^ Binder 

^(Q Con c r©te 



Asphalt pavement 

with 
Conobir7ec< cwrto ancf gottfer 

Concrete curb is usually moulded in place in uniform 
lengths, varying from four to ten feet, preferably five 
feet, with yi inch joints formed by the removal of tem- 
porary steel templates. It is often made in combination 
with a 12-inch to 15-inch gutter, and it is recent and 
good practice to add a cast iron or a steel guard-strip 
or " rub-strip," anchored two inches into the concrete 
by a 2-inch by ^^^-inch perforated web, and showing a 

39 




CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

rounded flat surface of i >^ to 2 inches on the outer top 
edge, to protect against the impact of wheels. 

Corners are usually curved on radii varying from four 
feet to nine feet; the former preferred for streets of 
moderate traffic. 

COST. 

Straight curbs set cost about as follows, with thirty 
per cent to fifty per cent added for curves : — 

Granite, 50 cents to 90 cents and in some cases 
^1.25 per linear foot. Ulster or Oxford bluestone, 40 
cents to 80 cents and in some cases $1.00 per foot- 
Medina or Berea sandstone 35 cents to 70 cents. 
Concrete usually costs from 40 cents to 50 cents, with 
35 cents added for a combined gutter, though combined 
curb and gutter have been built for 50 cents. 

The prices vary widely with the freight-rates and the 
local conditions. 

CAR TRACK CONSTRUCTION. 

When any of these pavements are to be built on a 
street containing car-tracks, special attention must be 
given to the reconstruction of the track and to the 
details of the pavement next to the rails. The pave- 
ment between the rails, and for two feet on each side 
of them, should be built by the railroad company under 
the plan and direction of the city engineer, or this 
should be done by the city at the expense of the rail- 
road, as in Rochester, N. Y. The methods there used in 
1900 are shown in the picture here given. See p. 119. 

This construction with heavy rails is necessary to 
make the track-structure as rigid as possible, and this 
is so well accomplished in 1901 that sheet-asphalt is 

40 



CAR TRACK CONSTRUCTION. 

laid in actual contact with both sides of the rails, upon 
which exceptionally heavy cars pass without cracking 
the asphalt. This is seen at the best in Buffalo, N. Y., 
where the rails are electrically spliced in place, by 
welding three-inch by one-inch by fifteen-inch steel 
plates on both sides of each joint, forming continuous 
ninety-pound rails for great lengths. Joints are cast 
with molten iron with similar effect at Chicago, Brook- 
lyn and Minneapolis, and many other cities where the 
authorities and the railroads work together to get the 
best results in their pavements. 




TRACK AND PAVEMENT CONSTRUCTION, ROCHESTER, N. Y., tgoo. 

Medina sandstone block pavement on six-inch natural cement concrete base, and 
trolley-railway track-construction on concrete foundations. Three-inch porous tile 
beneath concrete and leading to sewers ; Ties two-feet centers, on concrete five 
inches thick, with tw^elve inches of concrete between the ties ; Nine-inch full-grooved 
steel girder-rails, bonded, resting upon the ties and upon twelve inches of concrete 
between the ties. 



41 



CONCRETE BASE FOR PAVEMENT. 



A concrete base, four to six inches thick, is desirable, 
whether the wearing-surface is to be of asphalt, or of 
creosoted wooden blocks, or of vitrified brick, or of 
stone blocks. The wearing-surface will need repairs 
and renewals, but a properly-made concrete base will 
be permanent, and will always increase in strength and 
solidity. It is specially needed wherever the street is 
of recently made ground, or where it was formerly 
swampy or unstable, or where traffic is expected to be 
heavy, unless an old stone pavement is in place to serve 
as a substitute. 

SUBGRADE. 

Before forming the subgrade to receive the concrete 
base, all present and prospective sewer, water and gas 
and subway connections should be made and extended 
under the curbs, and all old and new trenches should 
be tested with a ten-ton roller, and depressions should 
be filled and wetted and tamped until solid. 

HYDRAULIC CEMENT. 

The manufacture of American Portland cements has 
increased from one-third of a million barrels in 1890 to 
a total of forty-eight million barrels in 1907, and the 
manufacturers have meantime raised their standards, 

42 



CEMENT TESTS. 

improved their products and reduced their prices to 
keep pace with the growing demand for the highest 
grades which were formerly only made abroad. 

The differences in price between the high-grade 
reliable cements and the low-grade uncertain ones are 
comparatively small, and the poor cements will disap- 
pear from the market when all engineers make tests and 
are guided by the results. 

Good natural cements are still much used,* as ap- 
pears from the table at page 56, and they are better 
than low-grade Portland cements, as well as being 
cheapen 

CEMENT TESTS. 

The engineer of a small city will seldom have time 
or outfit for the complete tests now usual on large 
works, for which there are needed a special man with 
an expensive equipment installed in a separate room. 

The following described simple tests can be made 
by the engineer himself, with an outfit costing not over 
four dollars and which can be stored in a desk pigeon- 
hole. The tests thus made will be interesting in them- 
selves, and will be effective and convincing aids in 
rejecting most bad cements which may be offered, and 
will also have the preventive effect of causing manu- 
facturers to send their lower grades of cement else- 
where and to send only their best products to the places 
where such tests are probable: — 

First. — For fi^ieness. — Sift three to four ounces of 
cement through a standard test seive of 100 meshes 
per linear inch. Reject cement of which ten per cent 
by weight is retained on the seive. This is conserv- 
ative and the limit may be made smaller, for many Port- 
land cements are now in the market which will leave 

* Seven million barrels made in U. S. during^ 1903, and five million barrels in 1904. 

43 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

less than four per cent. A test by 200-mesh seive with 
a thirty per cent Hmit is desirable but takes time. 

Second. — For quickness of setting. — Make a pat of 
four ounces of neat cement adding one-quarter to one- 
fifth its weight of water and making a putty-like ball 
which can be dropped on the table and retain its form 
without falling to pieces. Press this upon a three by 
four inch glass plate leaving it half an inch thick in 
the center and sloping to thin edges all around. Note 
time required to take initial set. Reject cement which 
sets in less than twenty-five minutes. It may take three 
hours or more, but it will be better for paving if it sets 
in one hour. The instant of " initial set " is determined 
by noting w^hen the surface will support a four-ounce 
weight resting upon the smooth flat end of a one- 
twelfth inch diameter wire ; *or better, by feeling of 
the thin edge and noting w^hen it crumbles. 

Third. — For soundness. — Use the pat on glass above 
described and note when it sets enough more to make 
it difficult to indent it with the thumb nail, or when it 
will support one pound on the smooth flat end of a one- 
twenty-fourth inch wire, which may be considered as 
indicating " a hard set." Then put the pat with its 
glass plate over boiling water until the steam has heated 
them, and then immerse and keep them in the boiling 
water for three hours ; *or better, keep in the steam 
only, for five hours. Reject Portland cement if the 
pat shows radiating cracks in the center, or shows blow- 
holes on the surface, or curls up from the glass or cracks 
at the thin edges. Good natural cements may fail to en- 
dure this test (which is a severe one), and it may prop- 
erly cause the rejection of some Portland cements which 
would endure it after being " air-slacked " or " seasoned." 

* These are the latest methods in use under the author's direction. 

44 



CEMENT TESTS. 

Fourth. — For piu'ity. — Provide a glass-stoppered 
bottle of muriatic acid ; two shallow white bowds or two 
half-inch by six-inch test-tubes, a glass rod and a pair 
of rubber gloves. Put in a bowl or a tube as much 
cement as can be taken on a nickel five-cent piece ; 
moisten it with half a teaspoonful of water ; cover with 
clear muriatic acid poured slowly upon the cement 
while stirring it with the glass rod. 

Pu7'e Portlaiid cemeiit will etferyesce slightly and 
will give off some pungent gas and will gradually form 
a bright yellow jelly without any sediment. 

Powdered limestone or powdered cement-rock mixed 
with the pure cement will cause a violent effervescence, 
the acid boiling and giving off strong fumes until all 
the carbonate of lime has been consumed when the 
bright yellow jelly will form. 

Powdered sand or quartz or silica mixed with cement 
Avill produce no other effect than to remain undissolved 
as a sediment at the bottom of the yellow jelly. 

Reject cement which has either of these adulterants. 

Powdered slag mixed with cement unfits it for pave- 
ment-work. The adulteration is indicated in the dry 
cement (when coloring matter does not conceal it), by 
a lilac tint, and it is also indicated on the surface of a 
test-pat after drying, by brown and green and yellow 
discolorations. 

A chemical test will show the presence of slag if 
made as follows : 

Provide an ounce of mixture of methylene iodide 
(C H^ IJ and benzine, in which the methylene (the 
specific gravity of which is 3.^^^ being the heaviest 
organic liquid) is reduced to the specific gravity of 2?^ 
by addition of benzine. The methylene is uncommon 
and costs a dollar an ounce. 

45 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

In a half-inch test-tube put half an inch of the dry 
suspected cement and pour in a little of the mixture, 
stirring to a thin grout. Then cork the tube and let it 
stand. If slag is present, it will remain at top while the 
cement will settle to the bottom. The separation can- 
not be seen if coloring matter is present. 

Coloring matter in any cement will show itself in the 
acid test by giving a black or gray color to the resultant 
jelly which would otherwise be yellow. The coloring 
matter may, or may not, be injurious in itself, but its 
presence shows that the manufacturer wished to dis- 
guise the cement, which should be rejected, because 
there are a plenty of good cements which need no 
disguise. 

Weight. — The several kinds of cement differ mate- 
rially in weight and any cement that varies much 
from these average weights should be examined 
specially. 

The standard barrel contains 3.65 cubic feet and the 
standard bag is one-fourth of a barrel. The average 
weight of a cubic foot of packed cement is : Portland, 
104 to 114 lbs. ; puzzolan, 90 lbs. ; natural, 75 to 82 lbs. 
for Eastern and 70 to 72 for Western : The average net 
weight of each per barrel being 375 lbs., 330 lbs., 300 
lbs. and 265 lbs. 

RESULTS. 

These tests will be conclusive as far as they go, 
and will cause the rejection of no good cements. 
The makers of high-grade cements would not object 
to these requirements and would not increase the price 
because of them. 



46 



AGGREGATES. 



USE OF CEMENT. 



The cement in bags or barrels should be delivered 
and stored in a tight shed two feet off the dry ground. 

Blending. — The cement should never be used di- 
rectly from any original barrel or bag, because there 
may be more or less damaged or defective packages, 
each of which would thus form a bad spot in the work. 
This chance is wholly avoided by requiring that the 
contents of five packages shall always be blended dry 
in the cement-shed before any is sent out for use, and 
that only this blended product shall be sent out of the 
shed into the work. 

This will not add to the cost, but will merely keep 
the cement-man busier. 

AGGREGATES. 

The aggregates may be crushed from the cheapest 
stone available, though the hardest and toughest is 
preferable. Special care is necessary to see that the 
stone, before crushing, is clean and free from mud 
and clay. Stone unfit for masonry, or for macadam, 
may serve the purpose when it shall be embedded in 
the matrix of mortar in the concrete. 

CvMsher-dust as " sand!' — The total product of a 
crusher passing through a 2 >^-inch screen will give the 
best results, provided that the crusher-dust is consid- 
ered as sand, and that proper allowance is made for its 
presence after determining its quantity. If the stone 
before crushing is not entirely clean, the crusher-dust 
should be excluded by screening. 

Clean gravel and sand may be used in lieu of stone 
with the same provision as to the included sand. 

47 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

Where neither stone or gravel is available, as in the 
middle West, fragments of brick or of furnace-slag are 
often used as aggregates. 

In any case, the number of cubic yards of loose ma- 
terial for the aggregate will be twelve to twenty per 
cent more than the total cubic yards of concrete ram- 
med in place. 

SAND. 

The sand should be the sharpest and cleanest avail- 
able, preference being given to pit-sand, of w4iich the 
grains vary from fine to course. It will be well worth 
while for the engineer to examine the various sources 
of supply, and to be as careful in its selection as in the 
selection of the cement which is to be mixed with it. 
In a recent case, sand, which seemed fairly good, was 
washed and was then found to make concrete which 
was one-third stronger than when the sand was used in 
its natural state. Sand containing five per cent of 
loam or of clay is common and should not be used until 
washed. Two per cent will retard the set and per- 
ceptably weaken the mortar. 

PROPORTIONS AND MIXING. 

The proportions measured in loose bulk should be 
one part Portland cement to three parts sand to six 
parts of the aggregate, or one part natural cement to 
two parts sand to four parts of the aggregate. (See 
table at page 56.) 

When the concrete is made by hand, the blended 
dry cement, described on page 47, should be mixed on 
a mortar-bed while dry with the due proportion of dry 

48 



WATER. 

sand, until the color is uniform and no streaks of cement 
can be noticed when the dry mixture is smoothed with 
the back of a shovel. Water (equal in weight to eleven 
to twelve and a half per cent of the weight of the sand 
and cement for Portland cement and fifteen to seven- 
teen per cent for natural cement) is then added gradu- 
ally while mixing until plastic mortar is formed.* 

Meantime the rest of the men are measuring, sprink- 
ling and spreading the aggregate in a four-inch layer 
upon the platform (for which a sheet of iron ten feet 
square is the best), and on top of the layer is spread the 
mortar, w^hen the whole is turned with shovels by 
four men while two men work between them with 
specially large hoes. This mixing is continued until 
every face of every particle and fragment is perfectly 
coated with the mortar, requiring hard work which 
must be done rapidly. 

WATER. 

It is not important whether the mixing-water is pure, 
but it should not be muddy. 

The required amount of water should vary, as the 
aggregates are more or less moist, so as to give a 
uniform result, for to be either too wet or too dry is a 
grave defect in concrete. 

There is the widest difference of opinion among 
engineers of large experience as to the degree of wet- 
ness which gives the best results. All are agreed that 
the surplus mortar must be brought to the surface by 
ramming, after filling all voids. The effectiveness of 
ramming will vary on different works; the ease with 
which the mortar is brought to the surface increases 
with the amount of water, up to the condition where 

♦strength of mortar increases with mixing, of which four-fold the normal 
amount may add 25 per cent to strength. 

49 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

the concrete is so wet that no ramming is needed; 
which is bad practice, but not uncommon. 

The best practice is to use the least water with which 
the available rammers can be made to bring the mortar 
to the surface. It is futile to try to secure this neces- 
sary result by the persistent ramming of concrete which 
has been mixed too dry, and which it were better to 
remix with more and wetter mortar. There should 
never be enough water to produce free grout, which 
can drain away into the subgrade and be lost. 

MACHINE MIXING. 

Concrete is made better and more cheaply by any of 
the various rotary mixers than it can ever be made by 
hand. It is poor practice to depend upon shovellers to 
proportion the materials, as is often done with continu- 
ous and with gravity mixers. The proportions should 
always be accurately measured. Mechanical mixers, 
operated by steam power, are best adapted to large con- 
centrated masses like dams, foundations and bridge- 




READY TO LOAD. LOADED 

abutments, but are not well adapted to forming a thin 
layer spread over a large area, like a pavement-base. 

This condition is particularly well met by a new 
device known as a " dromedary mixer," which consists 
of a two-wheeled cart of which the body is a cylinder, 
which turns with the wheels as the cart is hauled 
along. 

50 



SPREADING AND RAMMING. 



The proper amounts of cement, sand, stone and 
water, are put into the cyhnder which is closed tightly, 
and then the cart is hauled to the work where the per- 
fectly mixed concrete is dumped in place and spread. 





DUMPING 



DUMPED 



The machine is described and highly commended by 
the city engineer of Baltimore, Charles E. Phelps, in 
the Municipal Journal and Engineer, of December, 
1901. 




CLOSING 



SPREADING AND RAMMING. 

Set eight-inch boards from curb to curb, supported 
on edge by stakes, and enclosing a space five feet wide, 
within which spread the concrete in a loose layer about 
Di to 7>^ inches deep, for a six-inch base, so that a 
one-yard batch will fill about one-third the wddth of a 
thirty-foot pavement. Ram it at once vigorously until 
all voids are closed, when the surplus mortar will come 
to the surface and the mass will quake slightly under 
the rammers. 

Effective ramming is hard work at which a 
workman should not be kept for more than an 

51 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

hour, when he should be changed to wheeHng or 
turning. 

Monolith. — Each day's work must be a monohth. 
The spreading and the ramming must be so done that 
each successive batch shall be rammed before the pre- 
ceding and the adjoining batches have begun their first 
set. The stiffness of the concrete after ramming in 
place must be such that the fresh mass will retain its 
form and will not crumble when the boards are removed 
preparatory to filling the adjoining space. Properly 
managed there will be no lines between the batches, 
which will all be merged into one mass. 

Bond. — Each day's work can also readily be bonded 
with the base previously formed, so that the whole will 
be a monolith. Form the end of each day's work on a 
steep two-on-one slope, or with a three-inch step and 
vertical rises, and have the surfaces of the end show 
voids between the fragments of embedded stone to 
afford a good bond. When work begins the next day, 
prepare a pail of thick grout of clear Portland cement, 
and brush it freely over and into the voids of the 
exposed end, just before dumping the fresh concrete 
against it. 

The result of omitting these small precautions, and 
of making a flat slope at the end of each day's concrete- 
work has been known to show, a year afterwards, in 
well-defined waves of an inch or more in height, ex- 
tending from curb to curb of an otherwise perfect 
asphalt pavement. These waves being resultants of a 
slight expansion, or "growth," of the concrete which 
slide upward at all the places, two hundred to three 
hundred feet apart, where the concrete-work for each 
day had ended. 

^2 



SETTING. 
SURFACE. 

If it is desired to " float " the surface smooth, as is 
required for pavement-base in Paris, and in Sidney, 
N. S. W., and for curbs and gutters and for accurately- 
cut wood-block pavements in the United States, the 
surface may be formed of the matrix-mortar without 
the embedded stone-fragments. It is of the first im- 
portance that this surface shall be of the same mortar 
as the matrix of the mass, and be placed at the same 
time and thoroughly blended with it, and that it shall 
not be made of a different or better kind or proportion 
of cement, nor be spread afterwards as a plaster to cover 
a porous or rough surface. Concrete which is consid- 
ered to need plastering should rather be taken out and 
replaced by good work. 

SETTING. 

When concrete has been rammed in place, it must 
be kept entirely undisturbed until it sets firmly, which 
should take from four to seven days ordinarily and 
longer in cold weather. 

Wet. — It is of vital importance that the concrete 
should be kept wet during all this time, and that it be 
sprinkled freely at night and morning, and be covered 
from the sun by sand or canvass which will retain the 
water. 

It is a common thing to find experienced foremen 
w^ho fully believe that concrete should "dry out," and 
many pieces of otherwise good concrete have been ren- 
dered worthless by acting upon this idea which ignores 
the plain fact that " hydraulic " cement requires water.*" 

Traffic of all kinds, both by foot or by vehicles, should 
be kept from the concrete-base for at least a week if 

* In 1906 there was widely published an article said to be from a well-known 
road-builder, advising that the hydraulic cement of a concrete-base must have "an 
opportunity to evaporate and solidifv and dry out." Young engineers cannot be 
too strongly cautioned against such advice. 

53 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

possible, using planks to cover street-crossings where 
passage-ways must be permitted. 

FREEZING. 

Portland. — For any concrete likely to be soon ex- 
posed to frost, use Portland rather than natural cement, 
and if possible avoid making concrete at all during cold 
weather. Avoid very slow-setting cement for such 
work, and especially avoid using sand or gravel con- 
taining loam or clay, of which even two per cent will 
greatly retard the setting of any cement with which it 
may be mixed. Use a little more cement and a little 
less water than in warm weather. Make special effort 
to prevent the concrete from freezing, at least until it 
takes its first set, and, if possible, for several hours 
afterwards, and also prevent it from thawing after it 
has frozen. While mixing, keep a fire burning in the 
sand pile and another in the stone pile, and heat the 
mixing-water."^ 

Brine, — Use brine by making a barrel of saturated 
solution of salt, in which keep a layer of free salt show- 
ing in the bottom ; put one-tenth of the contents of 
this barrel, dipped from the bottom, into each barrel of 
fresh water heated for mixing. It is useless to provide 
easily broken salometers which the foremen will not 
use, as this simple plan more readily provides a ten- 
per-cent solution, which will retard freezing and which 
will not injure Portland cement concrete, and which, in 
some cases, will even increase its strength. 

Limit, — Stop work when the cold reaches twelve 
degrees of frost or 20° Fh. If each and all of these 
precautions be observed, good results will be obtained, 
but at greater cost than for work under the normal 
conditions which are the basis of the following table. 

* To heat water in a wooden barrel, screw one end of a lo-foot piece of 2-inch or 
3-inch ciameter iron pipe into the side of a barrel near its base. Cap the outer end 
of the pipe, under and over which, on the ground, keep a small fire while the barrel 
is supplied with water. 

54 



COST. 
COST. 

The present cost of concrete in cities was compiled 
in 1 90 1 in an unusually effective way by F. V. E. Bardol, 
M. Am. Soc. C. E. and chief engineer of department 
of public works of Buffalo, in the following table 
which is republished from " Municipal Engineering." 

These figures and this table do not include the four- 
inch base for five miles of sheet asphalt pavement built 
during 1895 ^^ 1899, in the city of Niagara Falls, N. Y., 
by Walter Jones, city engineer, in proportions of one 
Portland cement, five sand and ten stone, at a total cost 
per cubic yard, in 1897, of $4.00. The items were : 

I -10 cubic yard (or 6^% of a 4-foot barrel) of high grade Port- 
land cement, at $1.75 per barrel $1 20 

5-10 cubic yard of graded pit-sand, fine to coarse, at $1.10 

per cubic yard 55 

I cubic yard of crushed and dust-screened limestone at $1.25 

per cubic yard i 25 

Mixing and placing and ramming "dry "-mixed concrete, 

one cubic yard i 00 

Total per cubic yard , $4 00 

The results were good. 

Portland Cement. — Of forty-two cities, one-third use 
Portland cements in the proportions of one cement, three 
sand and six to seven stone or gravel, at an average 
cost, for twelve cities, of $5.30 per cubic yard. 

NoJural Cement. — Two-thirds of these forty-two 
cities use natural cements in the proportion of one 
cement, two sand and four to five stone or gravel, at an 
average cost, for sixteen cities, of $3.85 per cubic yard. 

Cost of Extra Work. — -The cost of materials makes 
up seven-eighths of the expense of concrete, so that 
the extra precautions which have here been indicated 
and which may increase the labor ten per cent, will 
add little to the cost per cubic yard of the result. 

'55 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 



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56 



BLOCK-STONE PAVEMENTS. 



Block-stone pavements are forms of the most ancient 
pavements, the details of which have been adapted to 
the conditions of modern city traffic. 

Examination of the conditions in the great cities 
which do the best street-work, and which employ the 
best skill to plan and to execute it, show^s that block- 
stone pavement of all kinds have long been regarded 
as necessary evils which have only been tolerated 
because they were improvements on the barbarous cob- 
ble-stone pavements which formed the first stepping-- 
stones out of the mud, and because better substitutes 
were lacking. There have been obvious advantages 
which have off-set the evident disadvantages, thus 
inducing a more general use of block-stone than is now 
necessary. 

Block-stone pavements are now only desirable for 
steep grades, or for those streets of the largest cities 
where the heaviest traffic exists. There is no such 
traffic in any city of moderate size. 

It has been considered until recent vears that blocks 
of the hardest trap rock, or basalt, or granite were best 
adapted to endure the class of traffic which required 
block-stone, and vast sums have been spent in prepar- 
ing and laying blocks of granite from Massachusetts, 

57 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 




^^S^^^S 




Clermont Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Paved aboiit 1880. 




Eighth Avenue, . . vx, N. Y. 

OLD COBBLE-STOXE PAVEMENTS. 

Jan. I, 1901, New York City (Manhattan) had 227 miles of cobble. 
Brooklj-n had 300 miles of cobble and defective blocks. 



58 



BLOCK-STONE PAVEMENTS. 

Maine and Vermont, and of diabase trap rock from the 
Palisades of the Hudson. 

Paving blocks formed of these rocks and laid in the 
usual manner with sand joints, wear in such a way that 
their tops become rounded and polished, giving a poor 
foothold for horses, and forming a surface which collects 
and retains filth, and causes noise, and is injurious to 
public health and comfort: the hardest and finest- 
grained rocks giving the worst results, so that the 
coarser grades of granite have nearly displaced trap 
rock for paving blocks. 




&iocir 

Sond 

Osncrei*. 



^>m!6_L 



Granite pavement 



Broadway, New York, has very heavy traffic and has 
been repeatedly paved, from Fifty-eighth street to the 
Battery, five miles, with various forms of granite and 
of trap blocks ; portions of which have needed relaying 
after three years' use, and all of which have been dirty 
and noisy. These conditions are shown to be unnec- 
essary by the fact that during 1900, this block-stone 
pavement was re-set and used as the foundation for 
noiseless sheet-asphalt, which can be kept clean, and 
which is guaranteed to be in perfect condition during 
and at the end of ten 3^ears. This was done from 
Fifty-eighth street to Fourteenth street, two and a 
half miles, (and also on sixty other streets in New 
York,) durmg 1900, and was extended to Canal street, 

59 



CITV ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 




BROADWAY, NEW YORK, 1900. 

Looking up from the Casino at Thirty-ninth Street. 

After paving with sheet-asphalt, in 1900 : Trinidad Lake wearing-surface ; 

Bermudez Lake binder-coat. 



60 



BLOCK-STONE PAVEMENTS. 

one and one-fourth miles, during 1901, and in 1906 
wood blocks displaced block stone from the City Hall 
to the foot of Broadway at the Battery. Many other 
cities of the United States have, during the past ten 
years, preferred to use sheet-asphalt or brick rather 
than granite blocks, with the result that the total annual 
expenditure of the cities of the United States for granite 
block pavements has decreased one-half since 1890. 

The ill results obtained from pavements of granite 
and trap blocks are much less marked when the pave- 
ments are formed of blocks of Medina, N.Y., sandstone 
or Kettle River, Minnesota, sandstone. These sand- 
stones wear flat, do not polish, and approach granite in 
their resistance to crushing force, as indicated by the 
following statements of average pounds of crushing 
force endured per square inch : — 

Maine granite, 15,000 to 22,000 pounds; Quincy 
granite, 19,500 pounds; average of several of the New 
England granites, 22,000 pounds; Palisades diabase 
trap, 19,700 pounds; Medina, N. Y., sandstone, on bed, 
1 7,500 pounds ; Berea, Ohio, sandstone, 10,250 pounds ; 
Oxford, N. v., blue stone (sandstone), 13,470 pounds; 
Kettle River, Minnesota, sandstone (after seasoning), 
on bed, 12,300 pounds. 

Paving blocks of Medina sandstone are used to the 
largest extent in the cities of Rochester and Buffalo, 
N. Y., and Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo, Ohio, and 
are quarried along both sides of the Erie canal in 
various places from thirty to fifty miles west of Roch- 
ester, N. Y. The methods are particularly good in 
Rochester and in Cleveland, where the best pavements 
are laid on concrete foundation. At Rochester, the 
half-inch joints are filled with hot coarse sand and hot 

61 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 




Setting Medina sand-stone blocks on six-inch concrete base covered with one and 
one-half inches to two inches of sand-cushion. 




Filling joints with coarse sand and hot paving cement. 



BLOCK STONE PAVEMENT,. ROCHESTER, N. Y., 1900. 

62 



BLOCK-STONE PAVEMENTS. 

paving cement. The pavements are built by Edwin 
A. Fisher, M. Am. Soc. C. E., as city engineer, and the 
results are the best of which the material is capable, at 
a cost, in May 1901 of $2.48 per square yard completed 
including six-inch foundation of Portland cement con- 
crete. At Cleveland, Ohio a similar pavement is built 
with close joints. 

Paving; blocks of Kettle River sandstone are used in 
Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minn., and are quarried 
at Sandstone, Minn., about one hundred miles north- 
east of Minneapolis. The method of construction and 
the results are similar to those at Rochester, N. Y., the 
joints being half an inch wide and being filled with 
equal parts of Portland cement and sand. The cost at 
St. Paul in 1900, including six-inch concrete base, was 
^2.45 per square yard completed. 

Mileage of Block Stone Pavements 
(on basis of 30 feet width or 17,600 square yards per mile). 



CITY. 



Albany 

Atlanta 

Boston 

Buffalo 

Chicago 

Cincinnati 

Cleveland. 

Columbus 

Brooklyn. . 

Bronx 

New York ] Manhattan 

I Queens . . . 

[ Richmond. 

Philadelphia 

Richmond 

Rochester 

St. Louis 

St. Paul 

Toledo 

Troy 

Washington 



State. 



N. Y. . . 

Georgia 
Mass. . . 
N. Y. . . 

Ill 

Ohio . . . 
Ohio . . . 
Ohio . . . 
N. Y. . . 
N. Y. . . 
N. Y. . . 
N. Y. . . 
N. Y. . . 

Pa 

Va 

N. Y. . . 

Mo 

Minn. . . 
Ohio . . . 
N. Y. . . 
D. C... 



Year. 



1902 
1902 
1902 
1899 
1890 
1902 
1900 
1900 
1902 
1902 
1902 
1901 
1901 
1902 
1902 
1901 
1902 
1901 
1902 
1902 
1900 



Granite. 



28 miles 
52 miles 

114 miles 

21 miles 
58 miles 

2 miles 

146 miles 

44 miles 

192 miles 

29 miles 
)4 mile 

340 miles 
I mile* 

70 miles 



26 miles 
28 miles 



Diabase 
Trap. 



2 miles 



I mile 
7 miles 

87 miles 
7 miles 

yq mile 



3 miles 



Sandstone. 



108 miles 



121 miles 
7 miles 



31 miles 

3 miles 
6 miles 



* Also 31 miles of "granite spalls." 



63 



CONCRETE PAVEMENTS. 



Pavements of Portland cement concrete, like that 
used for sidewalks, have been built to some extent in 
France and in several American cities; among them 
Belfontaine, Ohio, where the main street was so paved 
in 1892 and was still in use in 1904, grooves having 
been cut in an attempt to prevent slipping. 

In Toronto, Canada, concrete pavements were built 
in 1899 and in 1903, consisting of the usual four-inch 
concrete base (see page 42) upon which, before this 
base had set, was spread the wearing-surface of a finer 
concrete composed of i part cement, i part sand and 
3 parts finely crushed granite. This was made 2 ^ 
inches thick, being worked into bond with the base- 
course, and, while soft, its surface was divided by half- 
inch grooves into five-inch by twelve-inch blocks to 
afford foothold for horses. The omission of these 
grooves would have left the surface slippery. Half- 
inch expansion-joints, filled with paving-pitch, were 
made along each curb and across the street at about 
50 feet intervals. The cost in Toronto was $1.74 to 
$1.92 per square yard complete without guarantee, and 
in Philadelphia alleys the cost was $2.15, including 
curbs and drains. Such a pavement should give good 
results, under ordinary trafific, on moderate grades, if 
well built. 

During 1906-7-8, concrete pavements have been built in many cities ; 
among them Chicago and Kewanee. Illinois; Grand Rapids, Calumet, 
Hancock and Kalamazoo. Michigan; Richmond and Gary, Indiana; and 
Washington, D. C. and Fon du Lac. Wisconsin. In some cases it has 
been subjected to heavy traffic which it has well endured when crushed 
granite screenings, X i^^h to dust, have been used in lieu of sand in 
forming the mortar for the surface coat: This adds about 15% to the cost 
and increases the strength. The pavement is usually made 7 inches 
thick, being s}^ inches base of i : 2 : 4 concrete, covered before setting 
with I ^ inches top of i:i>^ mortar formed of Portland cement and 
granite screenings : This is worked with steel trowel and cork float to 
avoid a glassy surface, and has }4 inch grooves, 4)4 by 9 inches apart, to 
give foot-hold, i inch asphalt mastic joints, 50 feet to 75 feet apart, 
allow for expansion. The cost, including 5-year guaranty, has been 
$i.io,-$i.25 to $i.6o,-$i.88 per square yard. 

64 



WOOD BLOCK PAVEMENTS. 






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65 



WOOD PAVEMENTS. 



Wood-block pavements, as built since 1900, surpass 
others in freedom from noise, and rank among the best 
in qualities and in cost. 

Of the many forms of wood pavements which have 
been built, only those need be described in detail which 
are still in actual construction : brief descriptions being 
given of the cheaper forms, which are only regarded as 
temporary expedients, and fuller details being shown 
of those latest and most improved forms of wooden 
block pavements which are now ranked with the best 
class of modern work. 

The corduroy roads of a century ago are now best 
known in the tales of our grandfathers, although there 
can yet be found, crossing swamps on the line of the 
old military road which was built in 18 12 across the 
Adirondack wilderness, from the Mohawk valley at 
Schenectady to Ogdensburg on the St. Lawrence, and 
to Sackett's Harbor on Lake Ontario, sections of 
corduroy road, which are still as sound as when laid, 
having been preserved from decay by the water which 
has usually covered them, although huge forest trees 
have meantime grown up in the old and abandoned 
roadway near at hand. 

The plank roads of a half century ago are nearly 
gone, with the toll-gates which were the objects of their 
beginning and the cause of their ending ; though it is of 

66 



ROUND CEDAR BLOCK. 

curious interest that there are still, in 19C4, two plank 
roads leading from the westward into the city of 
Albany, N. Y., having five toll-gates on ten miles of 
road ; but these relics of old days are of only historic 
interest, as are the majority of the thirty patented and 
forgotten forms of wood pavements which had their 
rise and fall thirty to forty or more years ago, beginning 
in Boston, Philadelphia and New York about 1840 and 
culminating from i860 to 1870, in the "Nicholson 
block," of which a description is now useless. 

ROUND CEDAR BLOCK. 

The well-known round white-cedar block pavement 
came into general use in western cities about 1880, in 
response to an urgent demand for something quick and 
cheap which would last until the abutting lots could be 
sold. This pavement was built in different ways in the 
various cities, but it probably has its best form as still 
built in Chicago in 1900. The prepared subgrade of 
the street is covered with two inches of sand, in which 
are embedded, across the street at six feet intervals, 
one-inch by eight-inch pine boards laid flat, as supports 
for the ends and centers of two-inch hemlock plank laid 
lengthwise of the street and close together, forming a 
regular crowned surface. 

The cedar blocks are of sound live wood, free from 
bark, not less than four, nor more than eight inches in 
diameter and six inches long. These blocks, unsea- 
soned and untreated, are set on end in close contact, and 
the irregular interstices are rammed full of half-inch to 
one and one-half inch gravel. The surface is then 
flooded twice with coal-tar heated to 300° Fh., using two 
gallons per square yard in all, followed while hot with 

67 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

a three-fourth-inch layer of clean gravel, not exceeding 
half-inch, which has been screened from that used to 
fill the spaces. 

In 1900, this cost about seventy cents per square 
yard in Chicago, where there was then about 880 miles 
(on basis of thirty feet width) of streets thus paved. 
This being probably somewhat more than the total 
similar mileage in all of the other cities using this form 
of pavement, the relative amounts being in about the 
following order: viz., Detroit, Superior, Duluth, Mil- 
waukee, Minneapolis and Toronto. 

It usually needs renewal in six years and becomes 
impassable in nine years, though the results are some- 
times much better than this.* 

Cypress blocks were similarly used in Omaha, Des 
Moines and Kansas City, and failed in two to four 
years. 

BLOCKS ON SIX-INCH CONCRETE BASE. 

Hexagonal blocks of mesquite, 5" deep and 4" to 
8" diameter have been laid at San Antonia, Texas, at 
cost of $2.80 per square yard, including the six-inch 
base. 

Tamarack-blocks, 3" by 5" by 6" have been laid in 
Montreal and coated with hot coal-tar and gravel. 

Redwood blocks, 4" by 6" by 6" seasoned, and boiled 
in asphalt, have been laid in San Francisco and Oak- 
land, California. 

Yellow pine blocks, 4" by 6" by 6" to 10" creosoted 
with twelve pounds per cubic foot, were laid in Galves- 
ton, Texas, in 1895-8. 

Creosoted or " treated " blocks on concrete base are 
recommended for fifteen miles of streets by the board 
of local improvement of Chicago during 1902. 

* One of the few pieces of this pavement to be seen in the Eastern States is on 
Main street in Fultonville, N. Y., in the Mohawk valley opposite Fonda. This was 
built in the spring of i8qi and in 1904 was in fair condition and likely to continue so. 

68 



WOOD BLOCK PAVEMENTS. 




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69 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

Washington cedar blocks, sterilized and creosoted 
with three to four pounds of creosote per cubic foot, 
were laid on about four miles of Indianapolis streets in 
1896, and some are in good condition in 1901. Some 
of the w^ooden pavements built in Indianapolis about 
that time have swollen and heaved badly. 

Oregon red cedar and southern yellow-pine heart- 
wood blocks, 4" by 4" by 9" creosoted with ten pounds 
per cubic foot, were laid in 1899 in Indianapolis at a 
cost of $2.10 to $2.50 per square yard, including base 
and five years guarantee : the joints being filled with 
paving cement of nine parts coal-tar to one part asphalt, 
and the surface being covered with half-inch screenings 
of crushed granite. This is a much more costly pave- 
ment than the others which have been described, and 
is of a high class, as are the later improved kinds 
described on page 74. 

In Paris, pine blocks of several forms, creosoted w^th 
eight to ten pounds of creosote oil per cubic foot, form 
the greater part of the ninety miles (thirty feet width) 
of wood-paved streets. Wood is preferred as being less 
slippery and less noisy than compressed rock-asphalt, 
and that it is satisfactory in its other qualities is evi- 
denced by the fact that the amount of wood pavement 
in Paris is increased every year. Including the six- 
inch concrete base in both cases, the cost complete is 
about the same as for rock-asphalt, viz., $3.10 per 
square yard. 



70 



AUSTRALIAN HARD-WOOD PAVEMENTS. 



These are the most costly of any of the various 
Avooden-block pavements and, therefore, have not been 
laid to any extent in the cities of the United States. 

They have, however, been largely used, and with good 
effect, in London, which has wood pavements of many 
kinds to the extent of about 240 miles, computed on a 
basis of thirty feet width. 

The city of Sidney, New South Wales, has many 
miles of wood-paved streets, upon which Australian 
hard woods have been used with most remarkable 
results, which would be incredible if not substantiated 
by the statements of W. A. Smith, M. Inst. C. E., and 
also by the report of R. W. Richard, Asso. M. Inst. 
C. E., the city surveyor of Sidney, and engineer in 
charge of Sidney pavements. Queen street, which has 
an estimated daily traiHc of 25,000 tons, was thus paved, 
and the blocks after eight years use, showed a greatest 
observable wear of one-sixteenth of an inch and were 
otherwise in almost as good a state in 1893 ^s when 
laid. The original cost was ^3.05 per square yard, 
exclusive of foundations, with an annual cost of two 
cents per square yard for maintenance and for daily 
sanding. 

The details of their construction in Sidney are as 
follows : 

71 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

The foundation, or base, was a layer of one-to-seven 
concrete, formed with a floated smooth surface, having 
a convexity from one in forty to one in eighty, and 
allowed to set for seven days before use. 

This concrete base was six inches thick on solid 
ground and nine inches thick on uncertain ground. 

The pavement which gave the best result was formed 
with seasoned heart- wood blocks of tallow- wood, black- 
butt, and blue gum, red gum, jarrah or karri, each kind 
being laid separately. Each block was formed by cut- 
ting a three-inch by nine-inch plank into pieces six 
inches long, and these blocks were then painted with, or 
dipped in, hot coal-tar and hot wood-preserving oil, and 
stacked for four hours before being set in the work. 
The blocks were set on end with the fibre vertical, 
forming three-inch rows across the street from curb to 
curb, each block breaking joints two inches with blocks 
in the next row. 

To provide for the expansion of the blocks when wet, 
expansion-joints were formed along each side of the 
pavement; these joints being two inches wide between 
the curb and the gutter-course, and an additional one- 
inch joint between the gutter-courses, which were 
formed of blocks set in rows running lengthwise of the 
street. Curbs, eighteen inches deep, were needed to 
resist the thrust which moved twelve-inch curbs. Bet' 
ter results were reached when these expansion joints 
were filled with mastic than when filled with sand or 
with clay puddle. These widths of joint were used on 
pavements sixty-four feet wide and gave good results. 

The best results were obtained when the blocks 
were forced close together on grades up to one in 
twenty and with one-quarter-inch joints on steeper 

72 



AMERICAN HARD-WOOD PAVEMENTS. 




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73 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

grades up to one in thirteen, or eight per cent. After 
completing sixty lineal feet of roadway, the surface of 
the pavement was swept with hot coal-tar and sprinkled 
with hot sand, and again swept with hot tar until the 
spaces w^ere thoroughly flushed with the plastic paste. 

As to the durability of these hard-wood blocks as 
compared with cubical blocks of blue-stone, Mr. Richard 
states that the blue-stone blocks have shown a wear of 
one inch per year, while the hard-wood blocks, laid as 
described and subjected to similar trafific, have shown 
a wear of one-fiftieth {-j\) inch per year. 

Where the joints have been filled with hydraulic 
cement, the results were not as satisfactory as w^here 
blocks were laid with close joints, but wdth the con- 
struction described, these wood-block pavements are 
free from the various faults of our cedar blocks and are 
expected to have a minimum life of sixteen years, equal- 
ing asphalt. 

In Melbourne, similar pavement is estimated to last 
fourteen years. Either of these improved methods or 
the more crude ones generally used in this country are 
costly. The final expense of our cheap construction 
being twice as great as for asphalt or for granite blocks, 
and probably much greater than if white oak or some 
similar hard wood were used. 

AMERICAN WOOD PAVEMENTS OF THE LATEST TYPE. 

The valuable qualities of the highest grade of treated 
wood-block pavements have been generally recognized, 
especially their freedom from noise; but their extensive 
use in the cities of the United States has been deferred 
by distrust based upon former failures and by the 
excessive cost. The cities seem to have awaited the de- 

74 



AMERICAN WOOD PAVEMENT. 

velopment of some process of treatment of native woods 
which should be less costly than the Australian hard- 
woods just described, and more satisfactory in various 
ways than the former well-known American methods. 

The creosote as ordinarily used is an effective pre- 
servative in itself, but it tends to form an emulsion with 
water, and also to evaporate half to three-fourths on 
exposure to the sun and the weather. 

To avoid these defects has been the object of two 
recent modifications of the treatment : the one called 
" kreodone-creosote," and the other " creo-resinate." 



75 



CnV ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 




Concrete base 



In progress. 



Ten-ton rc'ller. Couipletad pavement. 



MERIDIAN STREET, INDIANAPOLIS, 1902. 
Kreodone-Creosote Wood-block Pavement in progress in March, 1902. 



76 



KREODONE-CREOSOTE PROCESS. 



This consists in impregnating the seasoned selected 
blocks under pressure with ten pounds per cubic foot 
of an oil derived from creosote oil, possessing the origi- 
nal preservative properties with a longer endurance, 
and also having the effect of forming a varnish-like film 
or coating on the outer surface of the wood, protecting 
it from the elements. 

The seasoned blocks are sterilized by subjecting 
them to dry heat of 240° Fh., for eight hours. The 
kreodone-oil is then forced into the fibres of the wood, 
under a pressure of seventy pounds per square inch, 
maintained for two to three hours, or until twelve pounds 
have been absorbed by each cubic foot of the wood. 

In some cases the blocks are laid with the courses 
running diagonally across the street. The cost in 
Indianapolis for blocks four inches deep, has been $2.50 
to $2.70 per square yard of completed pavement, includ- 
ing concrete base, and also including nine years' guar- 
antee and maintenance. 

The cost of the Chicago pavement on Michigan 
avenue, in front of the Auditorium hotel, for blocks 
five inches deep, exclusive of the concrete base, and 
including surety company guarantee for five years, was 
$1.90 per square yard. 

This Chicago pavement and that on North Dela- 
ware street in Indianapolis, were both laid in 1901, 
and will furnish conspicuous examples by which may 
be observed the peculiar qualities of pavements treated 
with kreodone-oil. 

11 



CREO-RESINATE PROCESS. 



A pavement of pine blocks treated by this process 
became known during 1900 and 1901 by being laid on 
conspicuous streets in Boston and Springfield, Mass., 
and in New Rochelle, N. Y., and in Baltimore, Md.. 
The results have been such that each succeeding year 
has added largely to its extent and to the number of 
cities using it. The streets and bridges selected to be 
paved with it being usually those having the densest 
and heaviest traffic where a noiseless pavement was 
desired, as in the case of lower Broadway in New York 




As)<hall. 



TREMONT STREET, BOSTON, 1900. 
Creo-Resinate Wood-blocks, laid in 1900. 



78 



CREO-RESINATE PROCESS. 

City, which is thus paved from City Hall Park to the 
Battery. Many quiet residence streets in New York 
and Brooklyn and in U. S. Navy Yards and elsewhere 
have been so paved. 

The street superintendents of the cities where it has 
been used concur in saying that it proves most satis- 
factory, being noiseless, free from dust, not slippery 
on grades when used with the grooved joint shown on 
page 29, can be taken up and relaid readily, has as yet 
nowhere required repairs, and is so durable that the 
heavy traffic of Tremont street, Boston, has worn less 
than one-eighth inch in three and one-half years. 

The special features of the creo-resinate process are 
the preliminary treatment in dry heat to kill the germs 
of decay, and the mixing with the creosote of fifty per 
cent of melted rosin which is forced into the fibres 
with the creosote, where it solidifies and seals the pores 
of the wood and prevents the evaporation of the creo- 
sote or its displacement by water, which can find no 
entrance, so that the pavement does not swell and 
heave when wet. 

The blocks are of Georgia long-leaf yellow-pine heart- 
wood, 4'' wide by 8'Mong by 3^' or 2>}^" or 4." deep, 
and are treated in an air-tight cylinder by dry heat for 
five hours, during which time the temperature and 
pressure are gradually raised to 285° Fh., and to 
ninety pounds per square inch, when both are gradually 
lowered and a vacuum is produced, followed by hot 
creo-resinate mixture, afterwards forced in by hydraulic 
pressure of 200 pounds per square inch, which is main- 
tained until twenty-one to twenty-two pounds of the 
mixture have been absorbed by each cubic foot of the 
wood. 

79 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

This is followed, in another cylinder, by hot milk- 
of-lime under the same pressure, in order to fix and set 
the creosote, so that the blocks, when ready for use, 
present a peculiarly solid appearance. 

Creo-resinate blocks are peculiarly good for bridge 
floors because of their durability, smoothness and light- 
ness, and may be seen on the great Williamsburg 
suspension bridge between New York and Brooklyn; 
on the Harvard bridge, Boston ; on the Jackson street 
bridge, Newark, N. J. ; on the Buffalo Road viaduct 
at Erie, Pa., and others. 

In all cases the blocks are laid with the grain ver- 
tical, and are bedded in a layer of Portland cement 
mortar (or on a one-inch cushion of screened sand) 
covering the usual six-inch concrete base. The blocks 
are driven tightly together at every sixth row and are 
rolled with a five-ton steam-roller until a firm, uniform 
and unyielding surface is made. 

The whole is then flushed, and the joints filled, with 
Portland cement grout, or wdth creo-resinate mixture, 
or best, with asphaltic filler; each having given good 
results; the whole being then covered temporarily with 
^-inch of clean screened sand. 

COST. 

The cost of this pavement, complete, including a 
surety company ten-year guarantee, for blocks four 
inches deep on concrete six inches deep, varies with 
the local conditions from $3.10 to $3.50 per square 
yard. 



80 



IRON-SLAG BLOCK PAVEMENTS. 



Since about 1888, blast-furnace sJag has been utilized 
to a small extent in the Newcastle district of England, 
and also in Europe, to make paving-blocks by running 
molten slag into cast-iron moulds and allowing the 
blocks to anneal for eight hours by their internal heat» 
thus forming tough and hard blocks heavier than 
granite; each being 8 inches long, 4 inches deep and 
2,j4 inches wide with half-inch chamf erred top edges; 
these are set on the usual sand cushion on a concrete 
base, preferrably with asphaltic joints to reduce noise. 
The blocks show a whitish, stonelike surface and a 
bluish, porcelainlike interior when chipped, and have 
been imported from England in limited amounts for 
use between and beside street-railway tracks in the 
cities of New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Rich- 
mond in the U. S. and in Quebec, Toronto and Mon- 
treal in Canada. American slags which have been 
tried do not become so hard and tough by annealing, 
being too silicious and too low in alumina. 

The cost per thousand has been $12 in England, 
$34 in Canada, and $50 to #55 in the United States 
where their further use in the Borough of Brooklyn 
w^as considered during 1908. It does not appear that 
their merits equal the excessive cost of importation at 
such rates, although they have given good results in 
some cases. 



81 



VITRIFIED BRICK PAVEMENTS. 

THEIR USE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



During the past seventeen years there has been a 
steadily increasing use of vitrified brick for the pave- 
ments of the streets of cities and towns in the United 
States, especially of those of moderate size — that is, of 
100,000 inhabitants and less: the larger places wel- 
coming brick as a competitor with sheet asphalt, and 
as affording another means of escape from the intoler- 
able noise and dirt resulting from block-stone pave- 
ments and from the temporary and unsanitary features 
of cedar blocks, while the smaller western towns, with 
characteristic enterprise, have built miles of brick pave- 
ments to displace the natural mud. The total length 
of brick-paved streets in the United States in February, 
1902, was estimated by Wm. S. Crandall, then editor 
of The Municipal Journal, at about 1300 miles, and 
this has since been largely increased. 

The following table is reprinted from the first edition 
of " City Roads and Pavements," and shows the modes, 
costs and results in sixty-five cities in 1894: 



82 



VITRIFIED BRICK PAVEMENTS. 







Brick at entrance to Union Station, laid m li 
(Stone-block pavement in foreground). 




Alley paved with brick in 1894. 
BRICK PAVEMENTS, ST. LOUIS, 1901. 



83 



Summary of Reports of Modes of Construction, Cost and 
Results of Vitrified Brick Pavements. 



City and State. 



Atlanta. Ga 

Atchison, Kan 

Alton, 111.. 

Alleghany, Pa 

Bellaire, Ohio 

Binghamton, N. Y. 
Bloomington, 111.. . 

Buffalo, N. Y 

Burlington. la 

Cedar Rapids. la. . . 
Charleston, W. Va. 

Chicago, 111 

Cincinnati, Ohio. . . 

Clinton, la 

Columbus, Ohio . . . 
Connellsville. Pa. . . 
Council Bluffs, la.. 

Davenport, la 

Dayton, Ohio 

Decatur, 111 

Detroit. Mich...... 

Des Moines, la 

Dubuque, la 

Dunkirk, N. Y 

Evansville, Ind 

Findlay, Ohio 

Fort Wayne, Ind.. 

Galesburg, 111 

Hannibal, Mo 

Hartford, Conn 

Indianapolis, Ind.. 
Jacksonville, 111... 
Kansas City, Mo... 

Kenosha, Wis 

Keokuk, la 

Lafayette, Ind 

Lancaster, Pa 

Lexington, Ky 

Lincoln, Neb 

Lockport, N. Y 

Louisville, Ky 

Massillon, Ohio 

Memphis, Tenn 

Olean, N. Y 

Omaha, Neb 

Ottawa, 111 

Peoria, 111 

Philadelphia, Pa. .. 
Providence, R. I. . . 

Quincy, 111 

Rochester, N. Y. . . 

Rockford, 111 

Rock Island, 111.... 

St. Paul, Minn 

Scran ton. Pa 

Springfield, 111 

Steubenville, Ohio. 

Syracuse, N. Y 

Terre Haute, Ind. . 

Toledo, Ohio 

Troy. N. Y 

Washington, D. C. . 
Watertovvn, N. Y.. 
Wheeling, W. Va.. 
Wilmington, Del.. . 



Miles 
in use 
June, 

1894. 



1.1 
2.75 
1 
2 



0.25 

6 

3.33 

7.50 

2 



Average of prices. 



1 

15 
10 
30 

2 

5 

6 

6.4 
15 

9.6 
10 

1.5 

2.5 

4.5 

4 

2 
12 

1.5 

0.12 

8.7 

9 
10.25 

1 

1.25 

2.50 

0.10 

6 
15 
10 
10 

9 

2.25 

1.50 
10.25 

2.25 

7 
20 

1 

6 

3.14 

1.82 

7 

0.34 

0.10 

5.38 
10 

5 

1 

16. as 
1 

0.25 
0.12 
2 
3 



Cost per Square Yard of '"Best 

Work" on the Foundation 

here indicated. 



Six 

inches 

Concrete. 



M9 



1.60 
'2!46' 
'2!75 



2.30 
2.50 



2.00 



2.30 



2.50 
1.70 
1.69 
2.10 
1.70 



1.63 



4.00 
2.35 



2.00 



1.80 
2.25 



2.09 
1.50 



2.65 
2.00 
1.87 



1.75 
2.05 
3.00 



2.30 



2.33 



2.15 



2.50 
2.05 
2.46 



M9 



Flat 
Brick or 
Gravel. 



fl.75 
2.16 



2.00 



1.60 
1.35 



1.50 
1.60 



1.75 



1.80 
2.05 



1.55 

1.80 



1.75 



1.40 



1.75 
1.62 
2.40 



Broken 
Stone or 
Gravel. 



$0.61 



1.15 



1.45 
'2AQ 



1.87 



1.75 



SI. 75 



1.40 



1.55 



1.40 



1.80 



1.37 
1.33 



1.35 
1.00 



2.25 
1.05 



1.35 
2.15 



.52 



Filling of 
Joints. 



Paving tar. 
Sand. 
Sand. 
Paving tar. 



Cement grout. 

Sand. 

Cement grout. 

Sand. 

Sand. 

Sand. 

Paving tar. 

Paving tar. 

Sand. 

Paving tar. 

Sand. 

Sand. 

Sand. 

Cement grout. 

Sand. 

Paving tar. 

Paving tar. 

Sand. 

Cement grout. 

Sand. 

Paving tar. 

Cement grout. 

Sand. 

Sand. 

Cement grout. 

Paving tar. 

Sand. 



Sand. 
Sand. 
Sand. 



Paving tai'. 
Cement grout. 
Cement grout. 



Sand. 

Paving tar. 
Cement grout. 
Sand. 
Sand. 
Sand. 



Paving tar. 
Sand. 

Paving tar. 
Sand. 
Sand. 
Sand. 

Cement grout. 
Sand. 
Sand. 

Cement or tar. 
Cement grout. 
Sand. 

Cement grout. 
Cement grout 
Sand. 

Paving tar. 
Cement grout 



Reported 
Results. 



Satisfactory. 
Excellent. 



Fair. 



Fair. 

Good. 

Fair. 

Gratifying. 

Fair. 



Satisfactory. 

Fair. 

Good. 

Good. 

Excellent. 

Good. 

Good. 

Good. 

Good. 

Fair. 

Good. 

Satisfactory. 

Good. 



Satisfactory. 

Good. 

Good. 

Perfly. satisfy. 

Good. 

Good. 

Good. 

Fair. 

Good. 

Good. 

Good. 

Good. 

Good. 

Good. 

Excellent. 

Good. 

Good. 

Entirely satis. 

Good. . 

Moder'telyfair 

Good. 

Fair. 

Good. 



Gocd. 

Good. 

Good. 

Satisfactory. 

Indifferent. 

Good. 

Good. 

Good. 

Good. 



Good. 
Good. 
Good. 
Good. 



Satisfactoi V. 



84 



REACTION AGAINST USE OE BRICKS. 
EXTENT OF ITS USE. 

Two to three hundred such cities and towns, as well 
as all of the larger cities, especially Philadelphia, have 
laid more or less vitrified brick pavement, and its use 
is constantly extending, as is shown by the accompany- 
ing table on page 130, compiled by Willis Fletcher 
Brown, city engineer of Toledo, Ohio, showing the 
miles of streets paved with brick and with sheet asphalt 
in thirty cities. 

This table also shows the relative estimation in 
which brick is held as compared with sheet asphalt in 
cities where both have been used for a period long 
enough for opinion to be formed. 

REACTION AGAINST USE OF BRICKS. 

There has undoubtedly been a reaction in the popu- 
lar desire for brick pavements in some of these cities, 
where people have learned to know what good pave- 
ments are and where brick pavement has been brought 
into close comparison with sheet asphalt, and with the 
best grades of creosoted wood-block pavements in the 
western cities, and more recently by comparison with 
bituminous macadam or bitulithic pavement, in a few 
of the cities of the east. 

The excessive and peculiar roaring noise produced 
by the passage of light wagons over some brick pave- 
ments is objectionable on residence streets, and on 
some streets having heavy traffic there have been 
poor results as to durability. Much discredit has also 
been thrown upon the use of vitrified brick by the care- 
less and ill-judged manner in which many manufac- 
turers have sent out irregularly and imperfectly burned 
brick. These have been laid by incompetent contrac- 

85 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

tors, under inexperienced city officials, and have thus 
caused the needless failure of many pavements, thus 
stopping further extensions and preventing other cities 
from using brick at all, to the great gain of the sheet- 
asphalt companies, and with the effect of encouraging 
the introduction of bituminous macadam, creo-resinate 
wood blocks and other high-grade pavements which 
are free from these defects and which have not yet had 
time to develop other defects which may be peculiar to 
themselves. 

REGION OF PRODUCTION. 

The production of vitrified paving brick in 1894 
was in a measure restricted within two regions of Penn- 
sylvania and Ohio on the southwest and Indiana and 
Illinois on the west, which produced the special quality 
of material for forming paving bricks, which differ 
entirely from ordinary building bricks in both their 
material and mode of manufacture and in their qualities ; 
the name being a misleading one, as they are not brick 
but tile, and are not actually vitrified, but are fused. 

There are now a number of places outside these 
limits where paving bricks are produced in large quan- 
tities, one of the large plants being on the Hudson 
river at Catskill, from which have been furnished bricks 
for pavements in 112 cities and towns, nine-tenths of 
which are in seven of the eastern states, and the rest 
are in six of the southern states. The material of 
these bricks is low-grade iron ore, shale and clay, which 
are ground to a powder and mixed in proper propor- 
tions and formed into repressed bevelled-edge vitrified 
paving bricks and blocks, which compare well with 
others, and which have been used for most of the brick 
pavement in Albany, N. Y., with good results. 

86 



CHARACTERISTICS. 

Other well-known kinds of high-grade paving mate- 
rials are the Mack bricks and blocks, made at very 
large w^orks, located at New Cumberland, W. Va., 
fifty-six miles west of Pittsburg, Pa. These have been 
used for pavements in loo cities and towns, two-thirds 
of w^hich are in five of the eastern states, the rest being 
in three of the middle western states and four of the 
southern states. 

The materials are silica, alumina and iron, forming 
fire-clay, which is ground to powder and mixed with 
water in proper proportions and moulded into bevelled- 
edge vitrified paving bricks and blocks. 

Streets of Philadelphia, equal to over sixty miles 
length of thirty feet width, have been paved wdth these 
blocks, and it is stated by Wm. H. Brooks, chief of 
bureau of highways of Philadelphia, that some streets 
thus paved for over ten years have required no repairs 
and are now in good condition. 

CHARACTERISTICS. 

The material for moulding any paving brick must be 
of a peculiar character w^iich wall not melt and flow 
when exposed to an intense heat for a number of days, 
but will gradually fuse and form vitreous combinations 
throughout, while still retaining its form. 

The resulting brick must be a uniform block of 
dense texture, in which the original stratification and 
granulation of the clay has been w^holly lost by fusion 
which has stopped just short of melting the clay and 
forming glass. 

The clay while fusing must shrink equally through- 
out, thus causing the brick to be without any lamina- 
tions or any exterior vitrified crust differing from the 

87 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 




CO 

M 

O 

(—1 

PC 

6 



o ^ 

< t 
3 « 

o 

CO 

m 
< 



88 



ABRASION AND IMPACT TEST. 

interior. Such a brick will be incapable of absorbing 
any considerable amount of water, and will hence be 
unaffected by frost, and if formed of the best material 
properly treated will be tough, to withstand the blows 
of horses' toe-calks; hard to resist the abrasion of 
wheels, and strong to carry heavy loads : these being 
in the order of effectiveness of the destructive forces to 
be met. 

There is now little difficulty, with rigid inspection, 
of getting brick which will uniformly possess these 
qualities. 

QUALITIES OF PAVING BRICK. 

If the brick are uniform in character and are per- 
fectly formed of proper material which is thoroughly 
fuzed, they will be harder than glass and nearly as hard 
as quartz (being 6.5 on Mohs' scale), and will be tough 
enough to endure traffic. These qualities will be best 
determined by the following described test: 

ABRASION AND IMPACT TEST. 

The standard test revised and adopted by the Na- 
tional Brick Manufacturers Association in 1900, pro- 
vides for the use of a machine having a rattling 
chamber twenty-eight inches in diameter and twenty 
inches in length, formed of two steel heads and four- 
teen steel staves set one-fourth inch apart to allow the 
escape of the chips and dust. This machine must be 
set to run uniformly at about thirty revolutions per 
minute for about sixty minutes, or for 1,800 revolutions 
by actual count of a cyclometer. Each separate charge 
of bricks to be tested must consist of bricks of one 

89 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

kind, which must be perfectly clean and dry, and free 
from moisture : twelve paving bricks or nine paving 
blocks (so called because larger), are accurately weighed 
and constitute a charge, together with 300 pounds of 
cast iron in the form of blocks with rounded edges and 
corners : one-fourth in weight to be two and one-half 
inches square on end and four and one-half inches 
long, and three-fourths to be one and one-half-inch 
cubes. 

After 1800 revolutions, made as stated, the loss is 
determined by again weighing the brick: the limit of 
loss w^hich is allowed varies in different specifications : 
the St. Louis specifications reject bricks when the 
tests show a loss of over thirty per cent of the original 
weight: Columbus, Ohio, puts the limit at twenty- 
seven and one-half per cent : many lots of bricks tested 
will lose less than twenty per cent. 

Such brick must be practically without pores, for 
a brick which can absorb water equal to more than two 
per cent of its dry weight, will probably fail to endure 
the rattler test. 

The absorption test is, therefore, not a useful one, 
and may mislead, and may safely be omitted. 

The tests by abrasion, and for absorption, and for 
crushing strength, are the most important of the numer- 
ous tests which are sometimes specified, and of the total 
value of all the tests, the abrasion test is variously con- 
sidered as varying from thirty per cent to seventy-five 
per cent of the whole. 

EXAMINATION OF BRICKS IN USE. 

The best and most useful test can, however, be made 
by visiting places where brick pavements have been in 

90 



EXAMINATION OF BRICKS IN USE. 

use for several years, and by examining the actual 
results of traffic upon well-known and standard makes 
of brick. 

For instance, Columbus, Ohio, has some eighty miles 
of brick pavement, varying in age from one to twelve 
years, in which twenty-six kinds of paving bricks and 
blocks have been used, with various kinds of fillers in 
the joints. Dayton, Ohio, has twelve miles of brick 
pavement, in which fourteen kinds of bricks and blocks 
have been used. 

Des Moines, Iowa, and Terre Haute, Indiana, have 
also large mileage, composed of great varieties of mate- 
rials, as have also Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio, Louis- 
ville, Ky., and Detroit, Michigan. 

A few days spent in such examination of pavements 
in actual use will make experiments unnecessary, and 
will enable the engineer who is planning new work to 
avoid poor bricks and to specify those kinds which can 
be depended upon to give good results. 

This method of natural selection is gradually forcing 
the poor grades of brick out of the market. 



91 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 




Mixing and placing concrete base. 




Placing brick on sand cushion. 
liRICK PAVEMEXT, PROSPECT STREET, CAMBRIDGE, MASS., iJ 



92 



BUILDING BRICK PAVEMENT. 




Rolling with two and one-half ton roller. 




Spreading Portland cement grout filler. 
BRICK PAVEMENT, PROSPECT STREET, CAMBRIDGE, MASS., li 



93 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 
VARIOUS STYLES OF CONSTRUCTION. 

The table on page 84 is reproduced from the first 
edition as showing the actual practice in 1894 i^"^ the 
sixty-two cities there named, of which thirty-four then 
used one course of brick set on edge on a six-inch 
concrete base with a sand-cushion of one inch. 




Vcmfied Brictr 
Concrete 



Bricif pavement 



The table on page 100 shows a more general use of a 
concrete base in 1900 and 1901, and this is to be 
expected as showing a higher standard of work obtained 
at less cost. Broken stone forms a good base, especi- 
ally where it is covered with a layer of sand, with a 
course of second quality of brick, laid flat, as founda- 
tion for the surface-course of brick set on edge. 

Two courses of brick on sand have been used for 
seventeen miles of pavement in Topeka, Kansas, some 
of which has been in use for twelve years, and all of 
which is in fine condition in 1902. It is there pre- 
ferred as being less noisy than when laid upon a con- 
crete base, and being made from local brick has cost 
$1.25, or less, per square yard. 

A concrete base, for which details are given on page 
42, is, however, usually well worth the extra cost, and 
should be used in preference to any cheaper substitute ; 
especially for a city which has been educated to a cor- 
rect idea of what constitutes a good pavement. 

94 



SAND CUSHION. 



MODE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

The earth roadbed being sub-drained and rolled 
hard, as described for other pavements, should be 
formed with a regular crown of about one one-hundreth 
the width between curbs: the Ipest amount of crown 
is an important matter discussed on page 30, and the 
following table is given to show the practice in 1900 
in twenty-seven cities having experience with brick 
pavements : 
Actual *' Crown" of Brick Pavements as Built in 1900. 



CITY. 


State. 


Inches per 
30 ft. width 
bet. curbs 


CITY. 


State. 


Inches per 
30 ft. width 
bet curbs. 


CITY. 


State. 


Inches per 
30 ft width 
bet curbs. 


Albany 

Atlanta 

Binghamton. . . 

Buffalo 

Columbus 

Dayton 

Detroit 

Elmira 

Erie 


N. Y.. 

Ga 

N. Y.. 

N. Y . . 
Ohio... 
Ohio... 
Mich . . 
N. Y.. 
Penn . . 


5 
5 
5 
S 
6 

4>^ 
4>^ 
4% 
6 


Fort Wayne. . 
Grand Rapids 
Harrisburg. . . 

Houston 

Jackson 

Joliet 

Mansfield 

Meridan 

Milwaukie . . . 


Mich . . 
Mich . . 
Penn . . 
Texas.. 
Mich .. 

Ill 

Ohio... 
Conn . . 
Wis. . . . 


4 
6 

5 
6 

4 

5 
6 
6 

8^ 


New Orleans 

Peoria 

Sandusky . . . . 

Scranton 

Springfield . . . 

St. Paul 

Terre Haute. . 

Toronto 

Troy 


La 

Ill 

Ohio... 
Penn . . 
Mass .. 
Minn . . 
Ind.... 
Ont ... 
N. Y.. 


5 
6 
6 

5 
3Xt0 7 

5% 
6 

7 
4 







BASE FOR BRICK PAVEMENT. 

This may be formed in either of the several ways 
mentioned on page 94, but should generally be four 
or six inches of concrete, as detailed on pages 42 to 56. 

SAND CUSHION. 

When ready to set the brick, the sand cushion is 
formed by spreading screened moist sand over the con- 
crete or other base: this is spread uniformly to the 
required depth of one and one-half to two and one-half 
inches, and smoothed and brought to the proper crown 
by wooden templates, traveling on wheels or shoes and 
resting on the top of the curbs on either side. Upon 
the true surface thus formed upon the sand, the brick 
are set on edge, the workmen standing only upon the 

95 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

brick already laid, and placing the bricks in front of 
them in regular lines across the street; the brick in 
each course breaking joints with those in the next 
courses. The bricks are then rammed with a seventy- 
five pound rammer and rolled with a two and one-half- 
ton or a five-ton steam roller and settled firmly into the 
sand-bed. If the surface is then sprinkled and examined, 
soft brick can be detected and picked-out as being those 
which remain wet after the hard bricks have dried. 

JOINT FILLERS. 

No filler has yet been found that is perfect, and 
there are wide differences of opinion as to the best. 

Sand filler is cheap and allows the brick to be readily 
taken up and relaid, but it also allows the edges and 
corners of the bricks to chip and become rounded, and 
permits the bricks to settle at soft spots of subgrade. 

Portland Cement Grout of equal parts by bulk, of 
loose cement and fine sand, if properly made and 
applied, is better, and there are patented mixtures 
which are combinations of iron-slag and cement ground 
together, and which are equally good or better. Grout 
is irregular and worthless, unless the sand used is so 
fine as to remain in suspension, and such sand is not 
easy to obtain : grout should be poured into place, but 
is sometimes flushed broadly over the surface and swept 
into the joints. Grout makes it difficult to take up and 
relay the brick, but it can, if properly made and applied, 
perfectly protect their edges and corners and thus pre- 
serve a smooth surface, which is most desirable. 

For some reason which is not clear, the pavements 
with cement grout joints seem to be the most noisy. 

Paving Cement makes an elastic joint which in some 
cases is best, although it costs more than grout. The 

Cost of joint fillers for brick per square yard of pavement : Sand, 2 to 4 cents ; 
Portland cement grout, 8 to 12 cents ; paving cement, 10 to 12 cents ; asphalt filler, 
14 to 16 cents. 

96 



JOINT FILLERS. 

usual composition consists of loo parts by weight of 
No. 4 coal-tar, three parts residuum oil and twenty parts 
refined asphalt, kept and used at a temperature of 300° 
Fh., meantime carefully avoiding over-heating it. This 
hot mixture should be poured into the joints from a 
spout, or it may be poured upon the surface and swept 
in with steel wire brooms: a thin coating of sand 
should be at once spread over the pavement, and this 
will mix with the surplus pitch while still hot so that 
trafific will soon grind the whole from the surface and 
leave the bricks clean.* 

Expansion. — The expansion of brick pavements 
during and after periods of extreme heat has been a 
frequent source of trouble, and many pavements have 
been thus heaved and broken ; in some cases by a quiet 
raising of the brick pavement until the arch thus formed 
w^as broken by its own weight or by trafHc, as occurred 
at Niagara Falls in July, 1897, ^-nd at Glens Falls in 
August, 1 901: in other cases by sudden ruptures or 
explosions, as at Kansas City in July, 1901, where this 
occurred on seven streets and brick were thrown up a 
foot or more. In nearly every case this peculiar result 
has occurred where the brick have been laid with cement 
joints, and where the cross-expansion has been pre- 
vented by rigid curbs ; or at the apex of grades from 
both ways, or at the top of a steep incline where the 
resulants of longitudinal expansion have been concen- 
trated at one place. 

Expansion-joints of one inch of coal-tar, or mastic, or 
bitumen or sand have been formed along the curbs on 
both sides of the street and across the pavements from 

* In 1905, the best elastic filler for brick pavement was made from refined asphal- 
tum by the American Asphaltum and Rubber Co. of Chicago. This stays in, and 
fills, the joints in hot weather (not flowing below 215° Fh.) and yet is soft at ordinary 
temperatures but is not brittle in cold weather, nor affected by water. Its use 
strengthens the pavement and lessens the noise which has been the chief objection 
to brick. 

97 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

curb to curb at intervals of fifty feet: one city in cen- 
tral New York took special precautions of this kind 
and yet has had more or less trouble every year.* Other 
cities have taken no precautions and have no trouble. 
It remains to find a preventive. 

BRICK PAVEMENT FOR STEEP GRADES. 

Brick pavements are often used successfully on 
grades which are considered to be too steep for smooth 
asphalt, w^iich may afford no foothold, or for macadam, 
which may be gullied by heavy rainfalls. It is often 
difficult to decide what pavement to use in such cases, 
and equally difficult to select from the various forms 
of vitrified bricks and the different ways of laying them, 
in order to secure the best results on steep slopes. 

The following table is given of the steepest grades 
of brick pavements, in actual use in 1900, in the cities 
named : the fact that such steep grades are in use, 
may not be taken as a reason for imitation, but may 
furnish conclusive reasons for avoidance. 

Maximum Grades of Brick Pavements — 1900. 



CITY. 


State. 


Grade 

in feet 

per 100 

feet. 


CITY. 


state. 


Grade 

in feet 

per 100 

feet. 


Albany 

Baltimore 

Columbus 

Des Moines . . . 
Erie 


N.Y... 
Md ... 
Ohio .. 
I owa . . 
Penn . . 

Ill 

Ohio .. 
Wis - . . 


9-3 

15 

9 
II 

7 
6 

8 

8 


Nashville .... 
Parkersburg . . 

Peoria 

Philadelphia. . 
St. Joseph. . . . 

Toledo 

Troy 

Wheeling .... 


Tenn . . 
W. Va. 

Ill 

Penn . . 
Mo ... 
Ohio .. 
N.Y... 
W. Va. 


7 

8-4 
6 
10 


Joliet 

Mansfield 

Milwaukee .... 


5-6 

7 
8 



* Alon^ the center-line, and on cross-lines 50 feet apart, four joints were filled 
with "asphalt mixture" (page no) instead of i to i Portland ceinent grout. In every 
case, the three lines of adjoining brick thus laid settled during the first summer, 
displacing the ^-inch sand cushion until the bricks rested on the concrete base. 
This action formed bad depressions three courses wide, and the experiment was a 
costly failure ruining the pavement, though it was still in use eight years later. 



98 



BRICK PAVEMENT FOR STEEP GRADES. 

Cost. — The average cost of construction of brick 
pavement on concrete complete in 1894, ^ot including 
curbing and extras, as shown by the table on page 84, 
was $2.21 per square yard, varying from $1.56 at Alle- 
ghany, Pa., to $3.00 at Providence, R. I. 

In 1900, the cost is materially less, and the prices of 
several are given as a basis, being obtained from the 
" Engineering News " and the " Engineering Record,'' 
and from direct advices. 

On April 10, 1900, at Chillicothe, Ohio, offers were 
made by six bidders for pavement to be formed of either 
of seven different kinds of first-class pa\Tng bricks, using 
either of four different kinds of filler in the joints and 
naming a price for each ; six inches of concrete forming 
the foundation in each case. For the concrete base the 
prices ranged from twenty-eight to thirty-four cents, 
with an average of thirty-one cents per square yard. 

For the bricks laid in place, the prices ranged from 
seventy-seven to eighty-eight cents with an average of 
eighty-four cents per square yard. 

For the fillers, the prices per square yard ranged 
from an average of nine cents for cement to an average 
of sixteen cents for " No. 6 filler;" fifteen cents was bid 
and accepted for " ]\Iurphy grout," a patented mixture 
of powdered iron-slag and cement, which was used. 

For the complete pavement (not including excava- 
tion or curbs) the prices ranged from $1.24 to 31. 38, 
with an average of $1.33 per square yard. 

On May 18, 1900, at Kewanee, Illinois, four bids were 
made for vitrified brick pavement on six inches of con- 
crete for which the price for base, pavement and filler 
complete in place, ranged from $1.42 to $1.47, with an 
average of $1.45 per square yard. 

99 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 



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GUARANTEE. 

These and other prices are given in the table on 
page loo, in each case giving not only the minimum 
price, at which the work was done in each case, but 
also the highest bid and the mean of all the bids, for 
use in preparing estimates of cost for similar works. 

GUARANTEE. 

Some cities now require that the price for a brick 
pavement shall include a guarantee that it will be kept 
in good condition for a term of years and delivered in 
good condition at the expiration of this time. This 
term varies widely as indicated by the records of fifty- 
five cities of the United States which had, on January 
I St, 1899, 571 miles of brick pavements: of these, 
three require guarantee for one year; two for three 
years ; thirty-two for five years ; one for six years ; one 
for seven years, and ten for ten years ; while eleven 
require no guarantee, some buying the brick and laying 
them by hired labor. The general tendency seems to 
be toward a five-year guarantee with a surety company 
bond. 



lOI 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMF:NTS. 




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T02 



AMERICAN SHEET-ASPHALT, ARTIFICIAL 
AND NATURAL. 



COMPARATIVE QUALITIES OF PAVEMENTS. 

Asphalt pavement ranks first in extent of use and in 
satisfactory qualities, being fairly durable, and cleaner 
and less noisy than brick. Vitrified brick, the latest 
and best types of wooden blocks and the more 
recent bitulithic pavement, are its rivals for public 
favor. 

HISTORY OF ASPHALT PAVEMENTS. 

The original pavements were made in Paris in 1854 
and were formed of pulverized natural asphalt rock, 
mined at different places in France and Switzerland 
and Sicily. This rock is a natural combination of 
eighty-eight per cent of amorphous carbonate of lime, 
with twelve per cent of mineral tar or bitumen, form- 
ing a bituminous limestone, and is generally used for 
the comparatively small amount of asphalt pavements 
in European cities. 

A similar combination of sandstone and seven per 
cent to thirteen per cent by weight of bitumen is known 
as Kentucky sand-rock asphalt, and is used in some of 
the cities of the United States, having an advantage 
over the European bituminous limestone in being less 
slippery. 

103 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

American Asp J lalt Mixture. — The artificial mixture 
of sand and asphalt was first used in Newark, N. J., in 
1870, and on Fifth avenue in New York in 1873, 
though its first extensive use was in Washington in 
1877. I^ ^"^^s since been laid in vast quantities in about 
100 cities of the United States and is the best-known 
form of asphalt pavement. The proportions and 
methods have varied somewhat with the gain in accu- 
rate knowledge and with the judgment of the builders 
and with the local conditions. 

This artificial mixture, which forms an artificial bitu- 
minous sandstone, and also the Kentucky natural 
sand-rock, give better results than the European rock- 
asphalt, in that the sand which forms their greater 
part, affords a better foot-hold, so that fewer horses 
slip upon them and still fewer fall. Since 1883 Buffalo 
has paved with sheet-asphalt 2 1 7 miles of street having 
an average width of roadway of thirty feet, at a cost 
of over eleven million dollars, while Philadelphia has 
laid 235 miles; these cities alone having more than the 
combined mileage of all the European cities. The 
cities of the United States have in 1901, over 2,600 
miles of asphalt-paved streets, stated by Major 
J. W. Howard, engineering editor of Municipal Journal 
and Engineer, to represent an investment of ninety-five 
million dollars. 

American Natural Sand-rock Asphalt. — To form 
this pavement, the quarried rock is ground and heated 
to 300° Fh., and taken to the work hot and spread 
directly upon the clean concrete base where it is then 
rolled and rammed into a compressed layer two inches 
thick, no "flux" and no "binder coat" being needed. 



104 



HISTORY OF ASPHALT PAVEMENTS. 

The sand-rock is sometimes used in combination 
with bituminous hmestone in proportion varying from 
one and one to two and one. 




BARTON STREET, BUFFALO, N. Y., October 5, 1901. 

American Natural Sand-rock Asphalt, laid August, 1891. 

Pavement in perfect condition after ten and one-half years' use, during which time, 
there have been no repairs of damage due to wear or weather. 

There seems no good reason why the American 
bituminous rocks should not be so systematically laid 
as to give for the cities of the United States, pave- 
ments which are as good as, or are better than, those 
made for the cities of Europe, with their bituminous 
limestones. Buffalo has had about ten miles of Ameri- 
can sand-rock pavement since 1 890-1 892; Frank V. E. 

105 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

Bardol, M. Am. Soc. C. E., who has had charge as 
chief engineer of the department of pubHc works of all 
the pavements of Buffalo for many years, states that 
these " rock-asphalt pavements have required practi- 
cally no repairs, although they have been laid from 
seven to eleven years." This pavement was laid wath 
five-year guarantee on ten miles of fifty-one streets. 
The needed repairs made since the guarantees expired, 
have been confined to three miles of thirteen streets, 
nine to eleven years old, at a total cost of an average 
of three and eight-tenths cents per square yard of the 
total area of these streets. The accompanying view 
was taken in 1 901, of a street which has had no repairs 
since it was thus paved in 1891, and now shows good 
results. 

The average annual cost of repairs of this sand-rock 
asphalt pavement is put by Mr. Bardol at one cent per 
square yard, or one-third to one-fifth of the annual cost 
of repairs to artificial sheet-asphalt. Front street in 
San Francisco was paved with rock-asphalt in 1890 
and has had an exceptionally heavy traffic, but it is in 
perfect condition in 1902, having had no repairs during 
eleven years of use. 

In any northern city having either kind of sheet- 
asphalt pavement, there will usually be during each 
year two or three days or parts of days w^hen the asphalt 
will take a coating of ice upon which travel will be 
difficult unless sharp sand is strewn upon the roadway, 
but this is a small item in comparison with its many 
advantages. 

Appreciation of these advantages is shown in the 
Borough of Brooklyn (of whose department of high- 
ways, George W. Tillson, M. Am. Soc. C. E., who is a 

106 



VARIOUS COMPANIES. 



recognised authority on " Pavements and Paving Mate- 
rials," is chief engineer), where, during 1900, artificial 
sheet-asphalt was substituted for, or laid upon, other 
pavements on forty-three streets, equal in area to six- 
teen miles thirty feet wide. 

During the same year in the Borough of Manhattan, 
sheet-asphalt w^as also laid upon or in place of other 
pavements on sixty-four streets, equal in area to twelve 
miles thirty feet wide, and in the Borough of the Bronx, 
the same was done on fourteen streets, equal to four 
and one-half miles thirty feet wide. Of one group of 
twenty-four proposed paving works, seventeen were for 
replacing or covering old pavements with sheet-asphalt. 
See " Foundation " on page 113. 



VARIOUS COMPANIES. 

Since 1877 many different methods of construction 
have been tried and a number of companies have been, 
and some are still, before the public as competitive 
builders of asphalt pavements. To do this successfully 
and wdth certainty requires skill and knowledge which 
can only be acquired by long and costly experience. 
A great city may well employ experts who can specify 
details and test materials and direct operations as has 
been and is done in Washington and New York, but 
cities of moderate size desiring to build a few blocks, or 
a few miles, of asphalt pavement, should not attempt to 
direct the details of construction and should not con- 
sider other offers than those made by some of the few 
great firms having the widest experience and possessing 

107 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

the necessary exact knowledge of all of the many essen- 
tial details and having the best established reputations, 
who can safely assume all responsibility for materials 
and methods and can give an effective guarantee at 
reasonable cost, for a period of ten years ; five years 
not covering the critical time. 



;_ i. . . - *''sti3!.,*»;ia-at*?f 

COURT SQUARE, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 1900 
Rock-asphalt laid in front of City Hall in 1897 and repaired in 1898. 

Sources of Supply. — There are many sources of sup- 
ply of different asphalts, each varying from the rest and 
each requiring its own treatment. Formerly that from 
Lake Trinidad was assumed to excel all others for 
forming the American asphalt mixture ; but large de- 
posits were discovered in 1899 in northern Venezuela in 
addition to Bermudez Lake in the Department of Sucre, 
which alone is eight times the size of Lake Trinidad. 
There is also in Venezuela another newly found deposit 
of asphalt near the Gulf of Pavia in the Orinoco delta, 
and another in the state of Jujuy in Argentina. 

108 



ARTIFICIAL SHEET-ASPHALT. 

The American supplies of Kentucky sand-rock and 
of California sand-asphalt are very large and are free 
from international complications. 

MATERIALS AND METHODS; AMERICAN ARTIFICIAL SHEET- 
ASPHALT PAVEMENT. 

Asphalt. — The full details of the materials and of the 
methods of construction are omitted here, but those 
which are given are based upon the practice during 
1900 in the city of Washington, where closest atten- 
tion is given to the subject by the engineer commis- 
sioner of the District of Columbia, aided by Prof. A. 
W. Dow% whose expert ability is widely known. Trini- 
dad and Bermudez asphalts are used with results which 
appear to be equally good. They are " refined " by 
simply evaporating the water which occurs with them 
in their crude state, and which forms about one-third 
of the Trinidad Lake asphalt. This refined asphalt 
must be softened to be useful as a paving cement, and 
for this effect there is used a flux, which is generally a 
heavy mineral oil or petroleum residuum. 

Asphalt cement is the result of mixing eighty-one to 
eighty-seven parts, by weight, of refined asphaltum, 
with nineteen to thirteen parts of flux. This forms 
the matrix of the asphalt pavement, constituting nine 
and one-half to twelve and eight-tenths per cent, or an 
average of nine and seven-tenths per cent by weight of 
the asphalt mixture forming the wearing surface. 

Asphalt cement of a softer consistency is formed by 
mixing seventy-two to seventy-eight parts of refined 
asphaltum with twenty-two to twenty-eight parts of 
flux. This forms the matrix of the " binder," or about 
five per cent of its total weight, or about eight per cent 
of its bulk. 

109 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

Skill and care are required to vary the amount of 
flux, so as to produce the uniform results necessary for 
a reliable pavement. 

Asphalt Mixture. — The "asphalt mixture" above 
referred to is formed by mixing about nine and seven- 
tenths parts by weight of asphalt cement with ninety- 
one and three-tenths parts of hot sand and stone-dust 
and limestone dust: the asphalt cement varying dur- 
ing 1900 from a minimum of nine and five-tenths to a 
maximum of twelve and eight-tenths per cent. This 
limited amount of asphalt cement is less than the actual 
voids in the sand, but the " mixture " becomes too plas- 
tic, and forms waves when rolled, if the attempt is made 
to use enough asphalt cement to wholly fill the voids 
which are probably equal to at least five per cent after 
it is rolled and finished. 

Sand. — The careful and exact testing and propor- 
tioning of the sands and the stone-dust and limestone 
dust are a special feature of later practice. Formerly 
it was only required that sand should be clean and free 
from objectionable matter, but since 1894 it has been 
recognized that there are many varieties of sand, no 
two deposits being alike and no deposit being uniform. 
Samples are now taken constantly and are heated to a 
proper degree of dryness, and then passed over a series 
of screens to determine the relative proportions of each 
size. 

The composition of each of the various sands which 
are available being thus learned by tests, two or more 
kinds are combined in certain proportions, using great 
care from day to day to obtain a perfectly uniform mix- 
ture having a minimum of voids. These voids are in 
turn filled, as nearly as possible, by adding a varying 

1 10 



MATERIALS AND METHODS, ETC. 

proportion — ^averaging about one-tenth of the weight 
of the sand — of finely powdered silica or fine stone-dust. 

Limestone dust was formerly used exclusively for 
this purpose, but during recent years powdered silica 
or powdered mineral of any kind has been used instead 
and has been thought to be better in some ways : but the 
best practice in 1905 on Fifth Avenue in New York, 
and in London, and in Omaha, and elsewhere, was to 
use finely ground Portland cement, instead of stone- 
dust, to fill the voids in the sand, thus getting better 
results at slightly greater cost. 

The sand best suited to making the asphalt mixture 
has been found to consist of the following grades : 

Passing loo meshes per linear inch 17 per cent. 

Passing 80 meshes per linear inch 17 per cent. 

Passing 50 meshes per linear inch 30 per cent. 

Passing 40 meshes per linear inch 13 per cent. 

Passing 30 meshes per linear inch 10 per cent. 

Passing 20 meshes per linear inch 8 per cent. 

Passing 10 meshes per linear inch 5 per cent. 

It is most important that the two sizes first named 
should be about equal in quantity and should together 
be about one-third of the whole. In 1907, the best 
results were had by the admixture of about 1 3 per cent., 
by weight, of Portland cement, making a mixture of 
increased toughness, having about the following grada- 
tions : 

Passing 200 meshes per linear inch 13 per cent. 

Passing 100 meshes per linear inch 13 per cent. 

Passing 80 meshes per linear inch 13 per cent. 

Passing 50 meshes per linear inch 24 per cent. 

Passing 40 meshes per linear inch 11 per cent. 

Passing 30 meshes per linear inch 8 per cent. 

Passing 20 meshes per linear inch 5 per cent. 

Passing 10 meshes per linear inch 3 per cent. 

Bitumen 10 per cent, to 12 or 13 per cent. 

The bitumen ranging in quantity with its vicosity 
and the kind of surfaces of the grains of sand, so as to 
coat all surfaces of all particles. 

1 1 1 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

This accurate proportioning of sand has been done 
since 1894 by the best equipped companies, who have 
learned the necessity, and the details, from experience 
and who are therefore able to guarantee their work in 
a way which was not formerly possible. 

Crushed Stone for ''Bindery — Crushed stone to 
form the "binder" consists of any tough, hard rock 
and is the total product of the crusher passing through 
a one and one-quarter inch screen, with some of the 
dust removed and with the coarse screenings of the 
sand added. 

Until recently,^ the regular practice has been that 
ninety-five parts of this by weight are mixed while hot 
with about five parts of the softer asphalt cement 
before described. 

The amount of asphalt cement varies wdth the char- 
acter of the stone, the hot asphalt cement being added 
in the mixer until all faces of each fragment are coated, 
but avoiding any excess of asphalt which might tend 
to fill the voids between the fragments of stone. 

FORMATION OF THE PAVEMENT. 

Fottndation, — If the street has never been paved, 
the base of the proposed asphalt pavement is made of 
hydraulic cement concrete four inches or six inches 
thick. The usual practice is here shown and in the 
table on page 56. 



Con creTfe 




* See page 114. 



Asphalt PavemenT 



I 12 



FORMATION OF THE PAVEMENT. 

Much of the sheet-asphalt laid in the great cities has 
been put directly upon old pavements of cobbles or of 
stone blocks, of which the depressions may be filled with 
hot crushed stone sprinkled with hot asphaltic cement, 
or which may be merely re-set at points of subsidence 
to restore the regular form, but which are usually re-set 
at three inches lower grade and with the proper crown 
in order to make room for the " binder " and the 
" wearing surface " of asphalt, without having to raise 
the manholes, car-tracks and curbs. The lower part of 
Seventh Avenue, New York, was thus treated during 
1 90 1. The joints between the stones of the old pave- 
ment should be three-fourths of an inch wide and 
should be brushed and cleared for at least an inch in 
depth to afford a firm hold for the " binder." 

In some instances, stone blocks for a base have been 
re-laid flat to give a lower grade, but this is not good 
practice and has given poor results unless there is a 
concrete base beneath the old blocks, as was the case 
in New York on Broadway below Forty-second street 
to Canal street which was thus treated in 1901. 

Brick pavements built in 1887 have been used as 
base for sheet-asphalt for many miles of streets in 
Columbus, Ohio. 

Old macadam roads have often been successfully 
used as foundation for sheet-asphalt, and this may work 
well until cuts are made for sewer and water and gas 
connections when it will be difficult to restore the 
pavement. 

Binder. — The mixture of stone and asphalt which 
has been described at page 112, is brought hot from 
the mixer and is spread over the clean and dry base, 
using rakes to give it a regular depth of two inches, 

113 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

where it is at once compressed to one and one-half 
inches with a steam roller which may be slightly sprayed 
with water to prevent adhesion. 

A radical change in this "binder" is the most 
important improvement in recent years, but it is not 
generally adopted. The " honey-comb " character of 
the " binder " has been a source of weakness which, in 
Kansas City and Omaha during 1906 and 1907, has 
been avoided by completely filling the voids of the 
"binder" stone with the fine "asphalt mixture" de- 
scribed on pages 1 10 and 1 1 1. The resulting stability 
in the "binder course" permits that the "wearing sur- 
face " may then be made i V2 inches thick instead of 
the former 2 inches. 

Asphalt work of all kinds should stop during rain^ 
or snow-fall, or freezing weather. 

Weariitg Surface, — This is formed of the " asphalt 
mixture" which has been described on page no, and 
must be brought hot from the mixer and should reach 
the work with a temperature of about 280° Fh. : the 
surface of the " binder " should be swept perfectly clean 
to receive it, and it should be spread with hot rakes to a 
uniform depth of two and one half inches of the loose 
material, taking care to loosen that coming from near 
the bottom of the cart which must be scraped clean 
after every load. The loose layer is spread two and one 
half inches deep to form a one and one half inch finished 
surface, or three and one-third inches to form a two- 
inch surface, which latter is much the better for heavy 
traffic. 

Rolling the Wearing Surface. — The " asphalt mix- 
ture " is then rolled with a cold 1 200-pound hand roller 
the surface of which is constantly wiped with a piece 
of oily cotton-waste to prevent adhesion. 

114 



FORMATION OF THE PAVEMENT. 

After this rolling which is done quickly, the surface 
of the asphalt is covered with finely ground dry mineral 
dust (generally using dry hydraulic cement), which is 
swept over the surface to give it the soft gray color 
which is desired and to prevent the adhesion of the 
five-ton finishing roller with which the " wearing sur- 
face " is rolled until compressed to one and one half 
inches or two inches in thickness and until the surface 
is perfect. Cities are about equally divided as to which 
of these thicknesses is used, as indicated in table on 
page 56. 

This rolling will usually occupy about one hour on 
sixty feet length of pavement thirty feet wide. 

The entire manipulation of the material, and espe- 
cially its spreading and rolling, require skill and care 
not only for the general features here described but 
also for many other important details which are neces- 
sary to secure good results. 



115 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 




CARROLL STREET, BROOKLYX, NEW YORK, 1900. 
Before covering cobble pavement with sheet-asphalt in 1900. 



116 



SHEET-ASPHALT PAVEMENT. 




CARROLL STREET, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, 1900. 
After paving with Trinidad sheet-asphalt in igoo. 



117 



CITY ROADS AND PAYEMENTS. 
GRADE AND CROWN. 

The actual steepest grades existing in Yarious cities 
are shown in the accompanying table, in order that 
those haYing doubts in any extreme case may examine 
some of these grades and obserYC the results. 



Actual Grades of Sheet-Asphalt. 



CITY. 


State. 


Ft. per loo 
feet. 


CITY. 


State. 


Ft. per 100 
feet. 


Buffalo 

Erie 


N. Y. . . . 

Penn. ... 

Mich 

Conn 

Ohio.... 
N. Y.... 

Neb 

Ill 


5-1 

5 

7 

5 

5-75 

5 

8 

7.2 


Pittsburg 

Salt Lake City. 
San Francisco . 

St. Joseph 

Scranton 

Syracuse 

Toledo 

Troy 


Penn... 
Utah.... 

Cal 

Mo 

Penn. .. 
N. Y. .. 
Ohio.... 
N. Y. . . 


17 

.1 

8 

13 

7 
5 

7-5 


Grand Rapids.. 

Hartford 

Marion 

New York 

Omaha 

Peoria 



The crown used in Yarious cities on leYcl streets is 
shown in the same way; it being borne in mind that 
the least crown which will shed water makes the best 
road for those who use it. See " Crown of PaYcment," 
at page 30. 

Actual *' Crown " of Sheet-Asphalt. 



CITY. 



Albany 

Atlanta 

Bingharaton. 

Buffalo 

Charleston. . 
Columbus.. . 

Dayton 

Detroit 

Elmira 

Erie 







1 


— ' — X 1 










State. 


i! u 




u'^^ 1 




= c ^ 






N. Y . . 


5 


Ga 


5 


N. Y.. 


5 


N. Y . . 


5 


S. C. . . 


4 


Ohio... 


6 


Ohio... 


4X 


Mich . . 


i% 


N. Y.. 


4^ ! 


Penn . . 


6 



CITY. 



Fort WajTie. . 
Grand Rapids 
Harrisburg. . . 

Hartford, 

Houston 

Jackson 

Joliet 

Mansfield . . . . 

Meridan 

Milw-aukie . . . 





t £ ^ 




— ~ J 


State. 


5J ^ 3 




U — w 




~ z 




"^ ^— 1 


Mich . . 


4 


; Mich . . 


6 


1 Penn . . 


5 


1 Conn . . 


4X 


Texas. . 


6 


\ Mich . . 


^y^ 


Ill 


5 


Ohio. . . 


5^ 


Conn . . 


A% 


j Wis.... 


II 



CITY. 


ST.A.TE. 


Muncie 


Ind.... 


New Orleans 


La 


Peoria 


Ill 


Sandusky 


Ohio. . . 


Scranton 


Penn . . 


Springfield . . . 


Mass . . 


St. Paul 


Minn . . 


Terre Haute. . 


Ind....l 


Toronto 


Ont . . . 1 


Troy 


N. Y..I 






12 

5 
6 
6 

5 

3^ 

5^ 

7 

7 

5^ 



118 



RIGID RAIL-BASE. 
RAILWAY TRACKS IN ASPHALT-PAVED STREETS. 

When railway tracks are laid in streets paved with 
asphalt, there is wide variation in the manner of con- 
struction next the rails : of fifty-two cities having this 
condition to meet, all have, until recently, put some 
other material than asphalt next to the rails : fourteen 
using granite blocks, six using stone blocks, and four- 
teen using vitrified brick. 

The best practice in Buffalo, Rochester, Pittsburg 
and elsewhere, is to use ninety-pound rails with nine- 
inch or ten-inch webs welded in continuous lengths, and 
placed on twelve-inch concrete base to insure rigidity: 
the asphalt surface being then laid in contact with 
the rails. See page 40. 

The practice in Rochester since 1899 and in Pitts- 
burg in 1 90 1 has been to first place the heavy steel rails 
accurately on line and grade with temporary supports, 
and then to form the twelve-inch concrete base beneath 
the rails ; ramming and tamping the concrete until it 
rises against the rail-base and gives it a perfect bearing 
at all points without having to use wedges. 

COST OF SHEET-ASPHALT. 

This varies widely with local conditions and with 
the competion and can best be seen by reference to 
the tables here and at page 56, showing rates with and 
without concrete base and curbs. 

Repairs: In 1905. the cost of repairs of asphalt pavement ten years 
old averaged as follows per square yard of the entire pavement of that 
age in each of the cities named :— Brooklyn, N. Y. , $.043 ; Buffalo, N. Y. , 
$.0028; Rochester, N. Y., $.0283; St. Paul, Minn., $.0945; Toronto, 
Ont. , $.043; Washington, D. C, $.003; or a mean of a little over three 
and one-half cents per square yard. Meantime the prices for a square 
yard of re-surfacing were: — Brooklyn, $1.25; Buffalo, $1.23; Philadel- 
phia, I1.07 to $1.19; Rochester, $1.28; St. Paul, $1.65; Toronto, $0.89; 
Washington. $0.98. In 1906, the repairs of Brooklyn asphalt pavements 
cost an average of 3^ cents per square yard over all area maintained 
of all ages. 

119 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 
PRICES FOR SHEET-ASPHALT PAVEMENT, 

NOT INCLUDING BASE OR CURBS OR EXTRA WORK. 



DATE 



PLACE. 



Oct. 1,1900. Albany, N. Y 

Sept. 26, 1900. Cincinnati, Ohio 

Sept. — . 1900. San Antonio, Texas 

June 28, 1907. Brooklyn, N. Y 

June 3, 1908. Brooklyn, N. Y 

Nov. 25, 1908. Aberdeen, Wash 

I 1 in. binder: 2 in. surface, 



Guar- 
antee. 



10 yrs. 

5 yis- 

10 yrs. 



Xo. of 
Bids. 



Price per Sq. Yd. 



Max. Aver. ]Min 



)2.I7 

2.31 

2.00 



1.50 



$1.91 

2.21 

1.56 



1.46 



34 
97 
40 
18 
40 
45 



INCLUDING 6 INCHES OF CONCRETE AS BASE. 



DATE. 



Aug. 7 
March 3 
Aug. I 



March 4 



July 20 

June 4 

June 15 

June 19 

June 23 

July II 

Nov. 25 



1900 
1901. 
1900. 
1899. 
1901. 
1899. 
1809. 
1890. 
1898. 
1907. 
1908. 
1908. 
1908. 
1908. 
1908. 
1908. 



PLACE. 



Aurora, 111 

Baltimore, Md 

Cortland, N. Y 

Fort Wayne, Ind. . 

Houston, Texas 

Joliet, 111 

Milwaukee, Wis 

New Orleans, La. . 
Oswego, N. Y. ... 
Des Moines, Iowa. 

Erie, Pa 

Herkimer, N. Y. . . 
Knoxville, Tenn. . . 

Louisville, Ky 

Washington, D, C. 
Elkhart, Ind 



Guar- 
antee. 



syi's- 

10 yrs. 
10 yrs. 
10 yrs. 
10 yrs. 

5 yi-s. 
5 yrs. 
5 ys. 
5 yi"s. 



No. of 
Bids. 



Price per Sq. Yd. 



Max. Aver. 



)i.97 
2 27 

2-35 



2.90 
2.23 



2.0' 



1.95 

1.97 



5l.«8 
2.34 



2.42 



1.86 



1.86 
1.89 



Min. 



)I.8l 
2.17 

2-33 
1.89 

2.00 
I-5I 

1-95 
2.13 

1-95 

2.15 

1-75 

2.47 

1.80 
1.85 
1.48 
1.98 



GUARANTEE. 



It is now usual to require that the price paid for a 
sheet-asphalt pavement shall include a guarantee that 
it will be kept in good condition for a term of years and 
delivered in good condition at the expiration of this 
time : this term varies as is indicated by the records 
of forty cities of the United States which had, on Jan- 
uary ist, 1900, 757 miles of sheet-asphalt pavement: 
of these, twenty require guarantee for five years and 
twenty require a guarantee for ten years. Ten of the 
latter have formerly required five years, but now require 



120 



GUARANTEE. 

ten, showing a tendency toward a ten year guarantee. 
Maintenance guarantees for long terms were required 
for the sheet-asphalt pavements of Fifth avenue and of 
Broadway, New York. Asphalt was laid in 1896-7 on 
Fifth avenue with fifteen years' guarantee at the follow- 
ing prices per square yard, including new concrete base : 
from Ninth street to Fifty-ninth street, the cost was 
^4.35 : from Fifty-ninth street to Eightieth street, ^4.00: 
from Eightieth street to Ninetieth street, $3.29: these 
different rates indicating the expected effects of traffic 
on the cost of maintenance. 

Asphalt was laid in 1900 on Broadway, with fifteen 
years' guarantee, from Fifty-eighth street to Fourteenth 
street, upon new concrete base to Forty-second street 
and upon the old stone blocks relaid flat upon two 
inches of sand over the old six-inch to eight-inch con- 
crete base below Forty-second street. The cost was 
^5.37 per square yard. 

Asphalt was extended in 1901 down Broadway to 
Canal street, and cost ^6.3 1 per square yard. This in- 
cluded fifty-nine cents for relaying the old blocks flat 
upon the old concrete base and also ten years' main- 
tenance. This should include strewing sharp sand 
when the pavement is slippery, as on Fifth avenue and 
on all wood-block and asphalt pavements abroad. 

The average cost of a guarantee in Buffalo is put by 
F. V. E. Bardol, M. Am. Soc. C. E. (see page 56), at 
three cents per square yard for the first five years and 
fifteen cents for the second five years or eighteen cents 
for ten years. 

The probable cost of a guarantee for the third five 
years would in some cases equal the cost of an entire 
renewal of the surface. 

In 1908 these appears to be a reaction from the desire for long-term guarantees 
and a growing feeling that both economy and equit}- call for less than five-j-ear 
periods. 

121 



CTTY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 




122 



SHEET-ASPHALT PAVEMENT. 




123 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 
CAUSES OF FAILURE OF SHEET-ASPHALT. 

A reasonable amount of traffic tends to prolong the 
life of a good sheet-asphalt pavement. When a pave- 
ment begins to fail, the causes are probably to be found 
in about the following order: 

First, — Defective foundation, which has settled and 
caused the hollows in which pools of water have stood 
upon the surface of the asphalt until it has become 
disintegrated. 

Seco7id. — Wearing surface too soft, or excess of 
asphalt in binder, or dirt on surface of binder, either of 
which may allow " wearing surface " to creep under 
traffic and to form waves or rolls, in which the sheet of 
asphalt mixture is thickened, alternating with hollows 
where it has become thin. 

Third. — Patches where the pavement has been torn 
up for sewer and water connections and not well restored. 

Fourth. — Surface cracks, which sometimes appear in 
cold weather as a result of excessive contraction of the 
surface, and which sometimes close and re-unite in 
warm weather under the combined effects of warmth 
and of passing wheels. 

Fifth. — Excessive traffic which has worn off the sur- 
face. This is the least common. 

Sixth. — Lack of traffic, allowing the asphalt to 
become spongy. The latter cause usually shows its 
effects at the sides of the roadway next the curbs, 
where there is least passage of wheels. The process 
of failure may then be as follows: 

The material composing the sheet of asphalt expands 
slightly with the sun's heat, as all other substances do; 
but unlike most other substances, it does not of itself 
at once return to its original thickness when the heat 

124 



CAUSES OF FAILURE OF SHEET-ASPHALT. 

is lost, because the asphalt becomes rigid as it cools, 
and unless compressed by force, tends to remain in its 
expanded form. In the center of the roadway, where 
most of the wheels pass, the asphalt is at once re-com- 
pressed, but at the sides this is not done so promptly, 
with the result that there is a tendency to become 
somewhat porous or spongy where there is little traffic. 
When at last the asphalt has thus actually become 
porous, water can permeate it, and this soakage of 
water is helped by the fact that the surface-drainage is 
toward the sides, where the material is most likely to 
absorb some of it. Having thus absorbed ever so little 
moisture, of course both heat and frost have increased 




JEFFERSON AVENUE, BROOKLYN, iqoo. 
Destructive effects of gas leaks on sheet-asphalt pavement. 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

effects upon the material, and ultimately it shows signs 
of disintegration. 

Seventh. — When a failure of asphalt is so complete 
as to include several of these features, it will usually 
be found that the pavement was built by some local 
paving company, without previous experience, whose 
bid should not have been considered and whose work 
and guarantee proved to be equally worthless. 

Eighth. — Disintegration of surface may also result 
from defects in the mixture of asphaltum and flux or 
from the laying of the pavement during freezing 
weather; disintegration is frequently caused, espe- 
cially in Brooklyn, New York and Kansas City, by the 
escape of illuminating gas from leaky mains. The 
hydrocarbons which are now used in these cities to 
enrich and cheapen illuminating gas, are solvents of 
asphaltum ; leaks of this destructive and tenuous gas 
from the underlying main pipes are the direct cause of 
failures like those shown in the accompanying photo- 
graph of Jefferson avenue, Brooklyn, taken in 1900. 

Disintegration of asphalt is also caused by the spill- 
ing of kerosene by careless vendors, and by the drop- 
ping of oil from the axle-boxes of street-cars. 

Bonfires are sometimes built on asphalt pavements 
with destructive effect, and this was done in one case 
with a misdirected desire to celebrate the completion 
of the pavement which it injured. Most of these causes 
of failure are preventable by proper selection of the 
builders or by proper care of the finished work. 

There are many cases — among them Oswego, N. Y., 
as shown on the frontispiece — where no defects of any 
kind have appeared during and after five years' use of 
the pavement. 

126 



BLOCK ASPHALT PAVEMENT. 



Asphalt blocks are used in many cities of the United 
States, there being in 1900 the equivalent of ninety-five 
miles of pavements, thirty feet wide. During 1900, 
twenty-one streets, equal in area to three miles, thirty feet 
wide, were thus paved in the Borough of Manhattan, 
equaling twenty-five per cent of the sheet asphalt laid in 
1900. 

Washington, in July, 1900, had twenty-two miles of 
such pavement, as compared with 141 miles of sheet- 
asphalt. The asphalt blocks laid in 1900 were formed of 
thirteen per cent asphaltic cement, ten per cent limestone 
dust and seventy-seven per cent crushed gneiss, and 
cost $1.77 per square yard laid, not including base. 

The character of asphalt blocks has been much im- 
proved during recent years and the proportions are now 
usually about as above stated, except that crushed diabase 
trap or basalt is generally used and with better results. 
The materials are heated to 300° Fh. and are mixed 
in a rotary mixer until all the faces of every particle of 
the crushed stone are perfectly coated with the mixture 
of asphaltic cement and limestone dust. The product 
is then put in moulds twelve inches long, four inches 
or five inches wide and three inches or four inches deep 
and subjected to a pressure of two to two and one-half 
tons per square inch and then slowly cooled in water. 

This is done in a factory where the best results may 
be obtained and the blocks are then shipped to their 
destination, where they can be laid, like brick, in cold 
weather, if necessary, by unskilled labor. 

This last feature constitutes their chief advantage 
over sheet asphalt. The blocks are laid in close con- 

127 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

tact, sometimes on gravel covered with sand, though a 
concrete base is best, upon which the blocks are some- 
times bedded in one inch of Portland Cement mortar. 
Asphalt blocks made as above described, have w^orn 
well, but there are few cases where sheet-asphalt is not 
preferable. The following table shows the prices of 
recent pavements of this kind : 

Prices for Block-asphalt Pavement, Four Inches Thick, Including Six 
Inches of Concrete as Base and Filler in Joints. 



Date. 


CITY. 


State. 


Guar- 
antee. 


No. of 

bids. 


Price per Sq. Yard. 


Max. 


Aver. 


Min. 


Mar. II, 1 90 1 
Mar. 13, 1901 

Mar. II, 1 90 1 

Sept. 3, 1900 
Feb. 18, 1901 


Annapolis . 
Chillicothe. 

Pontiac 

Toledo 

Toledo 


Md.. 
Ohio. 

Mich. 

Ohio. 
Ohio- 


5 ys. 

5yi-s. 

5yrs. 
5 yrs. 


2 

r On 6 in.-) 
\ gravel, j 

18 
3 


$2 85 

3 25 

2 55 


$2 80 

1 17 

2 32 
2 45 


$2 75 

1 07 

2 40 

I 95 

225- 



* (On sand base, seventeen cents less; on stone base, three cents less.) 

A cheaper modification of block-asphalt, known as 
the Leuba pavement, has been in successful use in 
Neuchatel, Switzerland, since 1898, and consists of 
blocks eight and three-fourth inches long, four and one- 
half inches wdde, and four inches to four and one-half 
inches thick, but with the lower three-quarters of each 
block made of hydraulic Portland cement and clean, 
sharp sand in proportions of about one to four : this 
concrete base being covered with a wearing surface 
one and one-fourth to one and one-half inches thick of 
compressed natural rock-asphalt: the two materials 
being joined under heavy pressure, and the blocks 
being laid with cement joints on a concrete base. 



128 



BLOCK-ASPHALT PAVEMENT, 



f i ' 


J 




El ;;*** 


1 


W^ 



BLOCK ASPHALT PAVEMENT, NINETY-SIXTH ST., NEW YORK, 1900. 
Looking west from Third avenue to Park avenue. Paved in 1900. 



129 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 



List of Cities Having Both Sheet-Asphalt and Brick 

Pavements. 
Miles of each with preference. 



city. 



Albany 

Atlanta 

Baltimore 

Binghamton .. 

Boston .. 

Bufifalo 

Cleveland 

Columbus 

Dayton 

Detroit 

Elmira 

Erie 

Fort Wayne . . 
Grand Rapids. 

Harrisburg 

Houston 

Jackson 

Joliett 

Mansfield 

Marion 



^lilwaukee . . . 

]^Iinneapolis - . 
New Haven . . 
New Orleans . 

Peoria 

Philadelphia.. 

Rochester 

Sandusky 

Scranton . 

Springfield . ., 
St. Joseph . . 

St. Paul 

Terre Haute. 

Toronto 

Toledo 

Troy 

Washington . 



State. 



N. Y. 
Ga - .. 
Md .. 
N. Y. 
Mass . 
N. Y. 
Ohio . 
Ohio 
Ohio 
Mich . 
N. Y 
Penn 
Mich 
Mich 
Penn 
Texas 
Mich 
111.... 
Ohio.. 
Ohio-. 

Wis .. 

Minn 
Conn 
La .. 
111.... 
Penn 
N. Y 
Ohio 
Penn 
Mass 
Mo .. 
Minn 
Ind .. 
Ont .. 
Ohio 
N. Y 
D. C. 



Sheet- 
Asphalt, 
Jan. 1, 1900. 



9 

2 

7 
5 

14 
217 

9 
15 
17 

22 
0.8 
II 

7 
6 

3-4 

4 

0.4 

3 
I 

I."; 



miles 

miles 

miles 

miles 

miles 

mdes 

miles 

miles 

miles 

miles 

mile 

miles 

miles 

miles 

miles 

miles 

mile 

miles 

mile 

miles 



10 miles 



13 
3-5 
23 

8 

235 

43 

I 

12 

0-3 

9 
13 

3-5 
24 
21.6 

4 
141 



miles 

miles 

miles 

miles 

miles 

miles 

mile 

miles 

mile 

miles 

miles 

miles 

miles 

miles 

miles 

miles 



Total 920 miles 560 mile 



Brick. 
Jan. I, i8( 



7 
66 

74 
12 

24 



miles 
miles 
mile 
miles 
mile 
miles 
miles 
miles 
miles 
miles 
0.5 mile 

6 miles 
10 miles 

4 miles 
0.5 mile 

7 miles 
2.5 miles 
3 miles 

15 miles 

6 miles 

2 miles 

5 miles 
1.5 miles 

59 miles 

22 miles 

120 miles 

7 miles 
6.5 miles 

2 miles 
1.5 miles 

7 miles 

3 miles 
4.5 miles 

8 miles 
42 miles 

8.5 miles 
I mile 



Preference. 



As- 
phalt. 



Brick. 



Not stated. 



On over 
4 i,er 
cent 

grades. 



II 



13 



13 



(Compiled by Willis Fletcher Brown, consulting engineer of Toledo, Ohio.) 



130 



BITULITHIC PAVEMENT. 



During 1901, a practically new form of pavement 
with the above name has attracted much attention and 
has come into use at widely separate places ; its favor- 
able discussion in the Engineering News of January 
30, 1902, and in the Engineering Record of the same 
date, confirmed many in the opinion that this was a 
new factor in the solution of the paving problem. 

Time has verified this opinion, and the extent of the 
use of bitulithic pavement throughout the United 
States and Canada, during the past five years, has been 
remarkable. It has been adopted by one hundred 
cities in territory extending from Maine to Oregon, 
and from Nova Scotia to Louisiana, thus giving it the 
tests of use in the extremes of the varying climatic 
conditions of the continent, and with evident success 
as shown by the fact that of thirty cities which have 
contracted for nearly a million square yards to be laid 
during 1906, twenty-one have already used it and know 
its qualities from actual experience. 

The former bituminous or "tar" pavements have 
usually been formed of sand, the fine grains of wdiich 
have no other stability or structural strength than is 
derived from the matrix of asphalt or of coal-tar in 
which they are embedded : or they have consisted of 
tarred fragments of stone with twenty per cent or more 
of void spaces, generally placed without systematic 
heating and mixing. 

131 



BITULITHIC PAVEMENT. 




XoKTH James Street, Rome, N. Y. 
Laying- bituminous foundation or base. 




^'SPr- 



WOODLAWX A\ i:.\L,K, ToKONlo, (;.\T. 

Laying Bitulithic surface. 
BITULITHIC PAVEMENT, 1902. 

132 



DETAILS. 

Bitulithic pavement is formed of trap rock, or other 
tough rock, crushed and screened to fragments varying 
in size from two inches down to the dust, and com- 
bined in such proportion of sizes that the final spaces 
between the fragments of rock do not exceed ten per 
cent. This means that the fragments must be in actual 
and firm contact with each other and that the addition 
of ten or twelve per cent, by w^eight (twelve to sixteen 
per cent by bulk), of bituminous compound will fill the 
remaining voids and make a solid and impervious 
mass. 

When this is accomplished, the result must be a 
pavement which w^ater cannot penetrate and which 
should support the passage of traffic without abrasion 
of the fragments upon each other and without the 
bituminous filler being exposed to action of the 
weather. 

It is obvious that the success of the pavement will 
be dependent upon the care which is used in the selec- 
tion of the materials and the skill and thoroughness 
shown in combining and placing them, and that these 
features are as important as for an asphalt pavement. 

BASE. 

The choice of base for bitulithic pavement depends 
upon the character of the material over which it is to 
be laid. If the soil is gravel, or can be rolled solid, a 
bituminous base can be used as foundation, making it 
of crushed stone or slag two to three inches in size, 
laid to a uniform depth of four to six inches and rolled 
with heavy steam rollers, following this by spreading 
a coating or binder of . hard, waterproof, bituminous 
cement. If the soil is sand, or cannot be rolled solid, 

133 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

the usual base of hydraulic cement concrete (page 42) 
is advisable, with the addition that, in order to give 
closer bond with the bitulithic surface, the top of the 
concrete should be roughened by tamping fragments 
of crushed stone into the concrete while it is plastic 
and partly embedding them in its mortar before it sets. 
If the street to be improved has been paved with 
macadam, or with asphalt, brick or asphalt blocks, or 
any firm foundation, the use of bitulithic upon it is 
practicable. 

TOP. 

Upon the base, prepared as above, the "wearing sur- 
face" is spread and is compressed while hot with heavy 
rollers to a final thickness of two inches : this "wearing 
surface" is formed of the best available crushed rock, 
preferably hard limestone, gneiss or trap, varying in 
size from a maximum of one or one and one-half inches 
down to an impalpable powder. The whole material 
is then heated and dried in rotary drums and then 
screened in rotary screens, separating it into six or 
more sizes, and tests are made to determine the proper 
proportions of the different sizes of fragments and of 
sand and of crusher-dust which will produce the dens- 
est mixture having the smallest percentage of voids. 
These proportions by weight of each size are then run 
into a mechanical mixer at a temperature of 250° Fh. 
and are then combined with an acturately-weighed pro- 
portion of heated bituminous cement, which is carefully 
determined to be sufficient in quantity to fill all final 
voids, coating all faces of all particles of stone and of 
sand and of dust, and also providing a slight surplus 
of "filler." When thoroucrhlv mixed, it is hauled to 
place on the street and is spread and rolled while hot 

134 



DETAILS. 

in the same manner as is asphalt, but by use of a 
twelve to twenty-ton three-wheeled steam roller of the 
road-roller type (pages ii and 14), this having much 
greater compressive effect than the five to ten-ton two- 
wheeled asphalt-roller. The effect of this heavy rolling 
is to compress the bitulithic materials to the required 
thickness of two inches, crowding the bitumen into all 
the voids, forcing out all air-bubbles and making the 
surface as dense as possible. 

NON-SLIPPERY SURFACE. 

Upon this surface, filling its irregularities and mak- 
ing it sticky, there is then poured and rubbed a coating 
of quick-drying bituminous cement, heated to 250° Fh. 
and over this is spread about a quarter-inch layer of 
small stone chips which are rolled and forced into 
the sticky coating forming a final wearing surface: 
these chips being larger in proportion as the grade is 
steeper, so that a good footing is given for horses on 
steep grades. 

WIDTH, GRADE AND CROWN. 

Bitulithic pavement usually extends from curb to 
curb, the widest being 120 feet on Lindell Boulevard, 
St. Louis, Mo., and the narrowest being sixteen feet on 
State Road leading south from Cleveland, Ohio, all 
widths between these extremes being used in various 
cities. 

The crown generally adopted on flat grades is one- 
fourth inch for each foot of width of street exclusive of 
car-tracks, which is more than has been considered safe 
for pavements not having a gritty surface. On steep 
grades, the crown is made one-eighth inch to the foot 
of width of street. 

135 



CITY ROADS AND 1 AVEMENTS. 




Ford Street, Portland, Oregon. 
Bitulithic pavement laid in 1905. 




BowDoiN Street, Bosiun, Mass. 
Bitulithic pavement laid on 13 per cent grade in 1902. 

m6 



OPINIONS. 

The steepest grades are eight to twelve feet per loo 
on Harvey Street, Pawtucket, R. I., ten to thirteen feet 
per I GO on Bowdoin Street, Boston, Mass., (see page 
136) and ten to fifteen feet per 100 on Park Hill, 
Yonkers, N. Y. 

COST. 

The bitulithic pavement has been in actual use 
since January, 1901, and the favorable opinions which 
were then expressed by skilled road-builders as to its 
durability and value have so far been justified; all of 
the cities which then experimented with it having 
since annually used it in increasing quantities, their 
success leading many others to follow their example: 
100 cities having laid 194 miles of 30-foot pavement, 
or three and one-half million square yards, at prices 
now ranging from ^2.00 to $2.50 per square yard, 
exclusive of grade and usually including five years 
guarantee. 

OPINIONS. 

Among those who first expressed favorable opinions on the value of 
Bitulithic pavements were C. A. Brown of Cambridge, Mass., then 
president of the Massachusetts highway association, and R. A. Jones, 
then vice-president of that association, which has long been a recognized 
leader in the good-roads movement. Prof. A. W. Dow of Washington, 
D. C, who expressed the opinion, based upon what he then knew of it, 
that it exceeded in good qualities any other pavement that he had seen 
laid. Chas. W. Ross of Newton, Mass. , a former State highway com- 
missioner of Massachusetts, commended it most strongly to the conven- 
tion of supervisors of New York State at their annual meeting at Albany 
in January, 1902, while the 1902 edition of " City Roads and Pavements" 
quoted these favorable opinions and added its own. To these may be 
added many similar expressions, and among them that of M. Girard, 
Commissioner of France to the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. 

With such weighty opinions from unbiased experts, confirmed by the 
results of actual use, it is evident that this pavement is a factor to be 
considered in future projects for city streets. 



137 



BROKEN-STONE ROADS. 



In the recent wide discussion of " Good Roads," mac- 
adamizing or some more or less similar arrangement of 
small fragments of broken or crushed stone, is most 
often spoken of, and the general reader who has given 
no special attention to the subject further than to read 
the many articles which appear in papers and maga- 
zines is most likely to conclude that some such con- 
struction suits all conditions and localities, though it is 
really best suited and most used for highways outside 
of the business parts of cities. 

Within the past eight years, there has been an in- 
creased use of broken stone roads for residence-streets 
of cities, resulting from the examples of good work given 
by the governments of various states in building high- 
ways by state aid outside of corporate limits, and thus 
familiarizing city officials with the methods by which 
the best roads of this kind can be built and maintained. 

This is especially manifest in the cities of Massa- 
chusetts, where over 200 miles of macadamized streets 
have been built since 1894 ii"^ the cities of Brookline, 
Cambridge, the Newtons, Medford and Springfield, as 
well as 240 miles in Boston. Also in many cities of 
New York State, especially in a section of Buffalo, near 
Delaware Park. The city of Greater New York leads 
in this as in all things, the five Boroughs having on 

138 



EXTENT OF BROKEN-STONE ROADS. 

January ist, 1901, the following stated miles of mac- 
adam streets and boulevards. Manhattan, eighty-two 
miles ; The Bronx, ninety-one miles ; Brooklyn, eighty- 
two miles; Richmond (Staten Island), 183 miles; 
Queens (on Long Island), 388 miles ; Central Park, 
nine and a half miles (all telford, 1869 to 1878); Pros- 
pect Park, six and a half miles ; Greenwood, twenty 
miles; or a total of 862 miles of broken-stone roads 
within the city, practically all but forty-five miles built 
since 1894. 

The building of rural roads by state aid was begun 
in 1893 by the State of New Jersey, which paid one- 
third of the cost of construction; followed in 1894 by 
the State of Massachusetts, which paid three-fourths of 
the cost, and by Connecticut in 1895, which paid two- 
thirds to three-fourths of the cost, and by New York 
State in 1898, which paid one-half of the cost: the bal- 
ance in each case being paid by the towns or counties. 
In Maryland, the state aids the counties by making 
their surveys and plans and directing the improvements. 

Under these systems, the roads most considered and 
most built have been of the two principal types of con- 
struction known as the macadam and the telford, though 
many miles of gravel roads have also been built and 
many miles of highways in each state named have been 
merely improved by forming and draining the natural 
materials as found, with the idea that this work may be 
later continued by putting broken stone upon the road- 
ways thus begun. 

ROCK FOR ROADS. 

Trap, — The three states first named are fortunate 
in having many formations of good rock for road con- 

139 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

struction, while New York State is mainly limited for 
tlie best grade of rock to the diabase-trap or dolorite 
formation lying on the Hudson River in Rockland 
county, just north of Nyack and opposite to Sing Sing 
or Ossining. 

This lies ten miles north of the limit of the proposed 
Palisades Reservation, is more accessible by canal boat 
and by railroad than any part of the Palisades and con- 
tains enough material of the best grade to macadamize 
all the roads in the state. The many quarries of New 
Jersey and Connecticut are also available for roads in 
New York as well as in those states. There was also 
discovered in 1901 a large isolated mass or "plug" of 
trap rock, near Schuylerville, N. Y., about twenty miles 
north of Albany, lying close beside the Champlain 
canal and the railroads. Other similar formations have 
been found in Clinton county by the State Geologist, 
Professor F. J. H. Merrill. Trap rock is the best for 
road construction, in that it has no true cleavage and 
breaks irregularly with toothed surfaces, and is tough 
and does not easily grind into dust and mud. Its spe- 
cific gravity is great, so that its dust does not blow so 
readily as that of limestone. 

Porphyiy is ranked next, but it is not common and 
the supply in New York State is limited to Lake 
Champlain. 

Quartzite^ and siliceous quartzite are more common 
and in some cases make very good road-material, but 
should be avoided if possible. 

Graiiite of some varieties is a good road-material, in 
proportion as it contains but a small amount of mica 
and of quartz, and is not weathered. 

The same is true of gneiss and of syenite, which are 
granitic and of which large and accessible formations 

140 



ROCK FOR ROADS. 

exist at Little Falls, on both sides of the Mohawk river, 
where there are unlimited quantities, close to the Erie 
canal and the railroads. Throughout Westchester 
county, N. Y., there are many and varying ledges of 
gneiss, some of w^iich are tough and good, but many 
of them carry an excess of mica and of quartz and of 
feldspar, and crumble readily, especially when weath- 
ered, and are unsuited to road-making. 

Limestone usually binds well and readily and, if 
unusually hard, makes a good road. Well-known 
examples of the best limestones, which have been and 
are much-used for road-making, are the Tompkins' 
Cove stone and the Clinton Point stone, quarried on 
the Hudson, forty miles and seventy miles from New 
York, and the Bethlehem stone, near Albany, N. Y., 
and the Jammerthal flint-limestone, quarried in the 
suburbs of Buffalo, N. Y. 

Some of the other limestones, which also bind readily 
and have been used for roads, contain an excess of 
lime and crush under heavy traffic, and form a light 
and impalpable dust, which is most objectionable to 
residents as well as to drivers. This dust is only 
avoided by keeping these roads constantly wet, entail- 
ing an expense for sprinkling which proves to be more 
costly than to use a better stone which does not form 
such dust. 

Soft limestones form a good lower course to be cov- 
ered by a harder wearing-surface or top course. The 
cementing action, so called, of limestone, is purely 
mechanical, but it serves to firmly bed the fragments 
and to prevent them from rubbing and wearing against 
each other. The use of limestone screenings is dis- 
cussed at page 1 60, under "Quality of Screenings." 

141 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 













'^ 


■ 








■Mil 


■4,<S ^V%. |d(|Mj 


^^ .::.2fL^ 


m^ ...rfiri 




^^ 


ig^iL..^i 






W^ 




■^ 








L 


./-' • 


,j^,i 


■ ■■'■■■'#• 






^^MP 


li-' 


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III ill 'UW 


ill. :vV% 


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^^H^mg 


■ — .■ ■'^j^^^t 


lgl^-^.-. 




Sandstone or "bluestone*' road, built in Ulster county, N. Y., in 1900. 



142 



COBBLE-STONES. 

Sandstone is only suited for use where better rock 
cannot be readily obtained, and then only for the base 
course where it should be covered by a wearing sur- 
face of trap or other tough rock. An exception to this 
must be made in favor of the "blue-stones" of Ulster 
county, and the five adjacent counties of eastern New 
York, which are true sandstone and are peculiarly 
tough. The Ulster county stone binds readily with its 
own screenings, and has been used to form the whole 
material of good six-inch macadam roads, which stand 
well under moderate traffic and are here shown. 

Various Kinds of Rock. — Broken stone roads can 
be well made with various rocks, requiring varied 
treatment to suit the conditions. The many rocks and 
the details for their successful use, can nowhere be 
better studied than in New York State, which probably 
contains as great a variety of geologic formations as 
any other equal area in the world. 

IMPORTANCE OF UNIFORMITY. 

In the selection of material to be crushed for road 
metal, uniformity in character is of the first importance; 
material which is uniformly of a second grade being 
preferable to a mixture of better and worse. Such a 
mixing of fragments of hard and soft rocks results in 
quickly crushing the softer pieces and then exposing 
the harder pieces to excessive shocks from passing 
wheels. 

COBBLE-STONES. 

Rounded cobble-stones gathered from the fields and 
lake shores, make a very poor wearing surface for a 
road, whatever their composition. 

^43 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

Being worn by action of water or ice into rounded 
forms, all of the fragments crushed from them have at 
least one curved or water-worn face. These curved 
and polished faces prevent the adjacent fragments 
from coming to a solid bearing in a road. They will 
always be likely to rock or slide under passing loads, 
and thus loosen all the fragments which touch them. 

Further, these rounded cobble-stones which were 
strewed broadcast over parts of the country during the 
glacial period, came from the most widely different 
localities in the northern part of the continent and 
include all varieties and degrees of hardness. 

Granite, syenite, quartz, limestone, flint and slate 
were found to make up one-tenth of a mass of them, of 
which the remaining nine-tenths were sandstone, of 
which at least one-half were so disintegrated or weather- 
worn — so " rotten," as the workmen call them — ^as to 
be worthless for any purpose: for road-surface metal 
they are worse than w^orthless, as their only effect is to 
destroy the good material with which they chance to be 
mixed. 

Crushed cobble-stones may be selected to form the 
lower or base course, if nothing better is available, by 
rejecting all which are inferior and by selecting, to be 
crushed and screened, only the hardest and best. 

In some regions where half or more of the many 
boulders, large and small, were found to be of good 
granite, these have been crushed to form the top 
course. In some cases, it has proved economical to set 
up two crushers near together, one crushing, for the 
top, the best granite boulders selected from each wagon- 
load as brought from the fields, and the other crushing 
the less desirable ones for the lower or base course. 



144 



TESTS OF ROAD METAL. 




145 



TESTS OF ROCK FOR ROAD-MAKING. 



The various rocks available for road-making are 
compared as to their relative endurance, by subjecting 
similar sets of samples of each kind to similar abrasion 
in machines like that here shown, which was devised 
by Deval in 1878. Each set of samples consists of 
eleven pounds, or five kilograms, of roughly cubical 
selected fragments, none smaller in any way than one 
and one-quarter inches, nor larger than two and one- 
half inches. These are cleaned, washed, dried and 
accurately weiglied, and enclosed in one of the cylinders 
and tightly sealed. Similar sets of samples are put in 
each cylinder and the whole machine is then slowly 
revolved at the rate of 2,000 revolutions per hour for 
five hours, or until a cyclometer registers 10,000 
revolutions. 

The fine dust worn from each set of samples is then 
saved for cementation tests, and the fragments are 
washed, dried and again weighed : comparison of the 
percentage of loss of each set indicates the relative 
endurance which is also to be seen by examining the 
fragments of rocks before and after testing. 

The department of civil engineering of Columbia 
University has a most complete equipment with which 
Prof. Wm. H. Burr, M.Am. Soc. C. E. has caused to be 
made many useful tests of road materials, and Harvard 

146 



TESTS OF ROCK FOR ROAD-MAKING. 

is similarly equipped: the testing laboratory of the 
college of civil engineering of Cornell University, 
directed by Prof. C.^L. Crandall, M. Am. Soc. C. E., is 
also fully equipped and makes many tests of stone and 
bricks for pavements, as does the highway division of 
the Maryland geological survey at Johns Hopkins 
University, directed by Harry Fielding Reid by whose 
courtesy the plates of machines and samples are here 
given. Records of similar tests of various rocks have 
been made and published by the highway commission 
of Massachusetts, by the highway division of the 
geological survey of Maryland, by the U. S. Office of 
Public Roads at Washington, by the State Geologist 
of New York and by the State engineer of New York 
and these records are useful guides in selecting stone 
for road-construction. 

The U. S. Office of Public Roads at Washington, 
Logan Waller Page, Director, has a most complete 
equipment and system for analyzing and testing mate- 
rials for road-building ; making chemical analysis when 
necessary and preparing thin, polished, transparent 
sections of rock for microscopic examination and for 
rapid macroscopic measurement of quantative composi- 
tion, as well as making the tests as to toughness, hard- 
ness and cementation, as described on page 146, and 
by improved methods. 

Bulletin No. 31 entitled " Rocks for Road-Building" 
by Edwin C. E. Lord, issued August 8, 1907, gives 
valuable details of methods, qualities and classification. 



147 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 





MARBLE. 




HARD LIMESTONE. 




DL\BASE TRAP ROCK. 



ROCK FRAGMENTS BEFORE AXD AFTER ABRASION TEST. 
Two-thirds natural size. 

HIGHWAY DIVISION, MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL srUVEY. 



148 



TESTS OF ROCK FOR ROAD-MAKING. 

The following table shows the results of loo tests of 
the six kinds of rock most used in Massachusetts and 
New York: 



KIND. 



Diabase trap 
Limestone . . 
Granite .... 
Quartzite . . . 

Gneiss 

Sandstone . . 





Per cent of Loss by 1 


Number of 
tests. 






1 




Max. 


Min. 


35 


4-31 


1.40 


24 


6.6B> 


2.33 


10 


4-30 


2.23 


7 


5-9° 


1.97 


12 


6.57 


1-73 


12 


6.69 


1. 71 



Mean. 



2.28 

4-34 

3-52 

4.01 
3-56 



(The last item includes Medina Sandstone at 2.29 and Ulster " Bluestone " at 3.71.) 

Several local rocks are sometimes available of which 
there may have been no tests, but experience will 
usually enable a selection to be readily made of the one 
which will give the best results. The rock which will 
bind the most readily will probably be the least durable, 
and it may be more economical to make a long haul of 
a good rock than to use one which is near at hand, but 
which will soon need renewal. 



MOTOR-TRUCKS TO HAUL STONE. 



During 1908, gasoline motor-trucks costing about 
$4,000 each and capable of carrying 5 tons of crushed 
rock at 8 miles per hour and returning empty at 10 
miles per hour — or doing 1 50 to 200 ton-miles daily — 
have been used by some road-builders who report a 
saving of one-third of the cost of similar work done on 
the same roads by horse-drawn wagons, costing, with 
driver, 40 cents per hour. 

149 



THE MACADAM AND THE TELFORD SYSTEMS. 



About a century ago Macadam preached and prac- 
ticed a gospel of good roads for England with an 
effectiveness which our leagues of to-day can only hope 
to imitate in the United States. 

England had long had roads of broken stone, and 
the use of this material was not peculiar to Macadam's 
method; but he was the first to establish rules of con- 
struction which were generally accepted, and under 
them were built 25,000 miles of road which formed a 
network all over England; so that his name has come 
to be associated with broken stone as a road material, 
although Telford, who came twenty-five years later, 
used the same material but in a different manner. In 
Macadam's talk to committees of Parliament and to his 
workmen, he always enforced the idea that the whole 
secret of making a good road was to keep its earth-bed 
dry ; that the ground was the real road and must bear 
the weight of the stones, as well as of the traffic, and 
that the subsoil, however bad, would carry any weight 
if made dry by drainage and kept dry by an impervious 
covering. 

In this requirement Telford and all skillful road 
makers fully agree. 

This dry roadbed. Macadam covered with a layer of 
road metal of a finished thickness of five to ten inches 

ISO 




> z 

cs 2 

bo 2 



o i 






O X 
tuoS 

B 

05 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

(varying with the weight of traffic), composed of small 
angular fragments of the hardest and toughest rock, 
broken to a uniform size, as nearly as possible to one 
and one-half inch cubes, or six ounces each in weight. 
No dimension larger than two inches was allowed, and 
any piece too large for a workman to put in his mouth 
was to be broken again. 

In the matter of Telford's foundation for a broken 
stone road and Macadam's omission of it, there are 
wide differences of opinion and of practice: French 
and English engineers generally omitting the telford 
foundation and many American engineers seeming to 
tend toward the same practice, or to limiting the use of 
telford foundations to those portions of roads where the 
earth subgrade is not firm. 

The latter practice is best because where the sub- 
grade is firm, the telford base serves as an anvil upon 
which the shocks of traffic break the fragments which 
form the surface. Where the sub-grade is dry and well 
drained, the telford base has the effect to more quickly 
remove the moisture which helps the binder to bed and 
to hold the surface-fragments. Sprinkling is done in 
dry weather to supply this moisture and without it the 
road " ravels." This raveling will occur sooner on a 
dry section of telford road than on a similar section of 
a macadam road, but this difference is not so important 
when the roadway is a city street which is sprinkled 
and shaded. When the sub-grade tends to being wet, 
the telford base is desirable as a foundation, and costs, 
when local stone is at hand, thirty to thirty-five cents 
per square yard. 



152 



Min. 


Average at 
14 bids. 


50 


62 


50 


66 



TELFORD ROADWAYS. ^ 

COST. 

As to the relative cost of the two methods, it is usual 
that telford is somewhat more expensive, but the fol- 
lowing does not so show. 

At Somerville, N. J., on October 2 2d, 1 900, proposals 
were received for two miles of eight-inch macadam and 
for six miles of ten-inch telford and macadam, each of 
trap rock, each twelve feet in width, and each including 
about 2,000 cubic yards of excavation per mile: the 
prices were in cents per square yard: 

Max. 

For eight-inch macadam roadway complete . . 8^ 
For ten-inch telford roadway complete 8^ 

For the stone roadways only, not including grading 
and drainage, for eight roads built in New Jersey, dur- 
ing 1900, the average costs were: 

For four six-inch macadam roads, fifty-three cents 
per square yard ; for four eight-inch telford roads, fifty- 
one cents per square yard. 

During 1901, as stated in the report of Henry I. 
Budd, commissioner, nine eight-inch macadam roads 
averaged seventy-seven cents per square yard and three 
eight-inch telford roads averaged sixty-one cents per 
square yard. 

TELFORD ROADWAYS. 

The general requirements for construction of telford 
roadways are similar in the different states with the 
exceptions which will be named: the earth roadbed 
or subgrade, is excavated and carefully rolled and 
formed as for a macadam road, conforming to the pro- 
posed cross-sections and twelve inches below the estab- 
lished grade of the finished road. 

153 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

On this subgrade are then placed by hand the stones 
forming the telford foundation, which may vary in size 
as shown below: each stone must be set vertically 
upon its broadest edge, lengthwise across the road and 
forming courses and breaking joints with the next 
course, so as to form a close and firm pavement. The 
stones are then bound by inserting and driving stones 
of proper size and shape to wedge the stones in their 
proper position. All projecting points are then broken 
with a sledge or hammer so that no projections shall 
be within four inches of the finished grade-line. The 
telford foundation is then rolled with a steam roller of 
ten or more tons w^eight, until all stones are firmly 
bedded and none move under the roller. All depres- 
sions are then filled with stone chips not larger than 
two and one-half inches, and the whole left true and 
even and four inches below the line of finished grade 
and cross-section. 

A good workman will average about twenty minutes 
in setting a square yard of this telford foundation, 
which may be formed of any kind of quarried rock 
which is most available : cobble-stones are not suitable. 

The practice in 1901 in the states named is here 
shown : 

Sizes of Stone for Telford Foundation, in Inches. 



STATE. 


Depth, as 

SET ON 
EDGE. 


Width, as 

SET. 


Length, 
set across 

ROAD. 


Remarks 




Max. 


Mm. 

8 

5 
8 
6 


Max. 

4 
10 
10 
10 


Min. 


Max. 


Min. 




New Jersey. 

Mass 

Conn 


8 
6 
8 
8 


4 

6 

1 
4 


10 

15 
ll 

15 


6 
8 
6 


Alternate end-stones 

double length. 
Two inches gravel rolled 

on sub-grade as base. 
Macadam covering 

formed in one layer. 
L^sed only on unstable 
ground as foundation 
for macadam. 


New York . . 



154 




-f. ?. 

c s 
z o 









CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

The requirements for forming the four inches or six 
inches of broken stone roadway upon this telford 
foundation are the same as for regular macadam. 

Of the mileage of broken-stone roads built by State 
aid during 1900, telford foundation was used for one- 
sixth in New Jersey, one-seventh in Connecticut, one 
thirty-eighth in Massachusetts and none in New York. 
During 1901, New Jersey used the same proportion as 
in 1900. 

NEED OF BINDER WITH BROKEN STONE. 

Macadam required that the layer of regular frag- 
ments should be spread on the earth roadbed, to be con- 
solidated by the wheels of passing vehicles, without the 
aid of any fine material or of " binder " of any sort. 

This requirement was impracticable and probably 
could not be enforced, and experience has shown that 
it is not desirable that it should be enforced. 

Such fragments, loosely piled or spread, have about 
forty-six to forty-eight per cent of void spaces, and will 
pack by rolling to about three-fourths of their thickness 
when loose. 

The consolidation of perfectly clean, regular, angular 
fragments of trap rock, free from screenings or binder 
of any sort, was thoroughly tried by Mr. Grant in Cen- 
tral park. New York city, in i860. A piece of road 
covered with Macadam's ideal road metal, free from 
binder, was rolled for several days, until the fragments 
were worn and rounded, without firm consolidation 
being effected, and this experience has been recently 
repeated elsewhere. 

Road material which can be packed without binder 
must be of a poor quality, which will supply itself 

156 



MODES OF USE OF BINDER. 

with binder by readily grinding into dust and small 
pieces. 

Telford's system differed radically in that he first 
covered the earth roadbed with a rough pavement of 
firmly set stones, and that the wearing layer of broken 
fragments varied in size, and that a binder of fine 
material was spread over the surface to help in its 
consolidation. 

MODES OF USE OF BINDER. 

This is one of the most important features of mac- 
adam road construction, and the different modes which 
produce successful results on State roads are therefore 
given in detail. 

In England there are now various methods in use, 
but as a general thing Macadam's method of using 
perfectly clean fragments of hand-broken rock is not 
now followed. The commonest practice seems to be 
to use twenty-five per cent of binder called " hoggin," 
consisting of a mixture of loam, coarse sand and small 
gravel. This " hoggin " being worked into the layer 
of broken stone by flooding the roadway with water. 

In France, where the greatest care is given to road 
construction and maintenance, twenty-five per cent of 
sand is generally used with the broken rock as a binder. 
This is washed to fill the voids between the fragments 
of rock, with a final addition of chalky dirt and water 
to fill the voids in the sand. See quotation on page 
169. 

In the United States, where little or no stone is now 
broken by hand, experience has satisfied most Ameri- 
can engineers that the roads wear better and have less 
dust and fewer loose stones if binder is put upon the 

157 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

consolidated layer of crushed stone to fill the spaces 
which remain after rolling, and this binder is usually the 
stone dust and the small fragments from the crusher 
which pass through the circular holes, half an inch in 
diameter, of a revolving cylindrical screen. The use 
of binder is the same whether the construction is tel- 
ford or macadam. 

In Nezu Jersey, after the lower course of broken 
stone has been rolled until compacted, trap rock screen- 
ings one-half inch to dust, free from loam or clay, are 
spread over the lower course in a uniform layer and 
the course is again rolled until the stones cease to sink 
or creep in front of the roller ; water being applied in 
advance of the roller if required. The same treatment 
is given to the top course. This is then covered with 
a mixture in equal parts of three-fourths inch crushed 
trap and of half inch trap screenings, properly mixed 
and spread in suf^cient thickness to make a smooth and 
uniform surface which is rolled until hard. Sandy loam 
is used with good results upon some New Jersey roads. 

In Connecticut, after each of the two courses has 
been rolled until solid and firm, dry trap rock screen- 
ings not larger than one-half inch are scattered over 
the surface so as to fill all interstices and the roller is 
then run over the road to shake in the dust. 

The sprinkler is then used to wash in the screenings 
and then more screenings are added, rolled dry and 
then sprinkled, and these processes are repeated for 
each course until all interstices are completely filled. 
When the top course has thus been made firm and 
smooth, it is then covered with one inch of screenings 
to form a wearing surface. 

158 



MODES OF USE OF BINDER. 

In MassacJiusetts, the lower course is thoroughly 
compacted by rolling, but no screenings or filler are 
spread or used upon it. After the top course has also 
been thoroughly compacted by rolling, screenings of 
the same kind of stone which forms the top course are 
laid on in just sufficient quantity to cover the stone 
and are then watered and rolled until the mud flushes 
to the surface. The screenings are not treated as a part 
of the wearing surface but are used simply to hold the 
larger stone in place, using as little as possible. 

In New York, the screenings used as filler are usu- 
ally limestone when the road-material is brought from 
a distance, but are often the product of the local crushed 
stone w^hen local rock is fit for use ; sometimes local 
rock and its screenings are used for the lower course 
only, but when possible they are used for the top also. 
In some cases when local granitic rocks are used, the 
screenings for the top course are caused to bind prop- 
erly by mixing an equal amount of limestone screen- 
ings with granitic screenings. In many cases during 
1904 and later, the cost was much reduced, and good 
results were obtained, by filling the lower course with 
local sand, or with sandy loam only, or by mixing these 
with the granitic screenings. Trap and granite screen- 
ings are limited to a maximum size of one-half inch, 
but those of softer rocks to three-fourths inch. After 
the lower course of stones did not creep or weave 
ahead of the roller, the dry sand or screenings were 
spread uniformly to a depth of a half-inch or more and 
then rolled dry and swept with rattan or steel brooms, 
and these processes repeated until the lower course 
was filled. Water is not necessary for filling the lower 
course, but may be used, when the soil is gravelly, to 

159 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

hasten the work, using 600 to 1000 gallons per 100 
feet of 16-foot road, or until all voids are filled, leaving 
the surface of the stones free from screenings. See 
page 175. 

The top course is then spread and rolled and treated 
in the same manner in sections of about 300 feet length, 
water being freely used and the rolling continued until 
a grout has been formed of the stone-dust and water 
and until a wave of this grout is pushed before the 
wheels of the roller. After this effect is produced, 
screenings are spread and rolled, leaving three-eighths 
of an inch depth for a wearing surface. After forty- 
eight hours, or when the surface has dried, the road 
is again rolled and sprinkled and then opened to traf- 
fic, being meantime sprinkled daily for thirty days. 

QUALITY OF SCREENINGS. 

Trap. — The best "binder" for the top course, all 
things considered, is probably a mixture of three parts 
of trap-rock dust and screenings, with two parts of 
smooth sand not too coarse. In addition to its tough- 
ness, trap-rock dust has the advantage as compared 
with limestone dust, of having a greater specific gravity, 
so that it does not blow readily. If this mixture fails 
to " bind," or if it " ravels " afterward, a different grade 
of sand may help it, or a small addition of one-fourth 
or less of cementitious limestone screenings, like that 
from Tompkins Cove, will certainly make it bind. 

Limestone. — Some kinds of limestone screenings 
make a sticky paste, which is very bad, and it is 
important to select carefully and to study the effects 
closely. Cementitious limestone dust and screenings 
" bind " broken stone better than will any other mate- 

160 



QUALITIES OF SCREENINGS. 

rial, and many experienced road-makers consider that 
limestone of some kind is necessary to make a good 
road; but the facts remain as detailed on pages 157, 
158 that vast extents of perfect roads have been built 
and maintained without it, both in this country and 
abroad, during years past as well as recently. 

Granite. — The screenings crushed from granitic rocks 
and from gneiss have in some cases been successfully 
used to bind the crushed rock from which they were 
screened. In other cases, during 1901, perfect results 
have been obtained from granite screenings which 
would not " bind " by mixing with them an equal quan- 
tity of carefully-chosen local sand. 

Quantity of Screenings, — The actual quantity of 
screenings required to thus bind the crushed stone and 
to fill the voids, varies somewhat with the character 
of the rock and with the degree to which it is crushed 
and ground together by the roller: with trap rock, 
which is not crushed by rolling, the loose yardage of 
screenings needed to fill the voids w411 equal thirty- 
three per cent of the loose yardage of the crushed rock 
measured in the bin : with some gneiss, or with soft 
limestone, or with sandstone, the screenings may not 
exceed twenty-five per cent of the loose yardage of the 
crushed stone measured in the bin. A fair average 
with the various rocks will be thirty per cent, which 
will be ample if the screenings are not w^asted. To 
this must be added whatever is required for the "wear- 
ing surface." 

Quantity of Water for Picddiitig- Top Coicrse. — The provision of water for puddling 
the top course (page i6o) is often an expensive matter and the quantity needed may 
be varied greatly by the manner in which the work is done, being least when the 
lower course has been well-iilled, and greatest when the base is loose and the soil 
beneath is absorbent. The quantity thus needed, on the top only, will vary from a 
minimum of 15 gallons to a maximum of 48 gallons per loose cubic vard of all the 
stone in both courses, averaging 28 gallons per loose cubic yard ; or two 600-gallon 
sprinkler-tanks per 100 feet of 16-foot roadway, equaling 134 inches depth over the 
whole surface, 

161 



MAXIMUM GRADES FOR MACADAM ROADS. 



There is a wide difference between theory and prac- 
tice in the matter of maximum grades on which broken- 
stone roads may be built and maintained. Grades of 
less than five feet per loo feet are not only better for 
the traveling public, but can also be built and main- 
tained at less cost, because it is more difficult to roll 
macadam on steeper grades, and because the fragments 
are loosened by horses toe-calks and are washed by 
rain-fall. 

In the construction by state aid in the states already 
named, the roads are necessarily outside of corporate 
limits and are usually old highways on which the 
steeper grade can be reduced by cutting the tops of the 
hills and by filling the valleys, or in extreme cases by 
changing the line of the road and making a new loca- 
tion around a hill instead of going over its top. In 
this way, the maximum grade on state work in Massa- 
chusetts and in New York is nominally five feet per 
hundred because this is considered to be the most 
economical for the convenience of travel and for the 
cost of maintenance. In both these states, grades as 
steep as six and one-fourth feet per hundred are found 
necessary in some cases. 



102 




o 

H 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 



In New Jersey, among the roads built in 1900 are 
the following upon which the grades are steep: 



NAME OF ROAD. 


Construction. 


Thickness, 
inches. 


Width of 
macadam, ft. 


]\Iax. grade, 

ft. and tenths 

per 100 ft. 


East Passaic avenue 

Budd's Lake road 

Passaic ave. (E. bank 

Passaic river) 

Patterson and Hamburg 

Turnpike 

Mendham-Bernardville. - 


Telford .... 
Macadam. . . 

> 
Telford .... 

Macadam .. 
Macadam . . 


8 
6 

10 

4 
6 


16 
10 to 16 

20 

16 
12 


7-5 
7-5 

8.86 

9 
10.75 



Upon city streets, however, it is often difficult to 
make any radical change in the grade, and always im- 
possible to avoid hills by change of location, so that 
grades which are steeper than these are sometimes 
used, and with surprisingly good results. 

The city of Newton, Massachusetts, comprises fifteen 
villages in an area of twenty square miles, containing 
some sixty miles of the finest macadam roads, which 
are built and maintained in perfect order by commis- 
sioner Chas. W. Ross, formerly member of the state 
highway commission. Among these finely kept roads 
are the following: 



NAME. 


Length of steep 
grade. 


Grades in 


Village. 


Street. 


feet per loo 
feet. 


West Newton .... 


Chestnut street 


1000 feet 


9 feet 


West Newton .... 


Mt. Vernon street . . 


1000 feet 


9 feet 


Newtonville 


Highland avenue. . . 


1000 feet 


10 feet 


Newtonville 


Otis street 


1200 feet 


10 feet 


West Newton .... 


Prospect street 


700 feet 


10 feet 


West Newton .... 


Putnam street 


600 feet 


10 feet 


Newton 


Bellevue avenue. . . . 
Newtonville avenue. 


1500 feet 
1000 feet 


9 feet 
12 feet 


Newtonville 



164 



STEEP GRADES FOR MACADAM ROADS. 

All streets having grades • steeper than five feet per 
ICG have paved gutters three feet or more in width for 
which concrete is preferred to cobbles as being more 
durable, being free from weeds, and giving the best flow. 

The city of Waltham, Mass., has fine macadam streets 
with the following described steep grades built since 

1895: 



NAME OF STREET. 


Length of 
steep grade. 


Width of mac- 
adam in ft. 


Max. grade, 

in feet 
per 100 feet. 


Main street 


1000 feet 
500 feet 
700 feet 
400 feet 
400 feet 


40 feet 
20 feet 
20 feet 
20 feet 
20 feet 


7 
8 


Newton street 


Plympton street 


9 
12 


Bellevue street 


Plympton street 


13 





These streets have paved gutters three and one-half 
feet wide and the cost of their maintenance after the 
first year is stated by superintendent R. A. Jones to be 
about one cent per square yard per year. 

Clinton, Mass., has the following described macadam 
streets with steep grades, maintained by superintendent 
Loring B. Walker: 



NAME OF STREET. 


Length of 
steep grade. 


Width of 

macadam in 

feet. 


Max. grade, 

in feet 
per 100 feet. 


Boylston street 

Chestnut street 


6000 feet 
1800 feet 
3000 feet 
30C0 feet 
3000 feet 


18 feet 
14 feet 
24 feet 
24 feet 
24 feet 


6 

7 
8 

9 

10 


Sterling street 

Church street. 


Main street 







These streets have paved gutters four feet wide. 
Cambridge, Mass., has steep grades on Lancaster 
street, Humbolt street and Washington avenue, main- 

165 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

tainecl by superintendent R. A. Brown. Medford has 
a steep grade on High street while there are also steep 
grades, kept in good condition, in Brookline, Chelsea, 
Maiden, Winchester, Woburn and Somerville, Mass. 

On Staten Island, now the Borough of Richmond of 
the city of New York, there were built from 1895^ to 
1 90 1, by Henry P. Morrison, M. Am. Soc. C. E., 183 
miles of macadam streets, which include some having 
steep grades which are described as follows : they are 
now in charge of Louis L. Tribus, M. Am. Soc. C. E. : 



NAME. 


Length of 
steep grade. 


Width of 

macadam in 

feet. 


Max. grade 


Village. 


Street. 


in feet 
per 100 feet. 


Garretson's . . 


Ocean terrace. . . . 


800 feet 


16 feet 


9 


Garretson's . . 


Prospect avenue. . 


500 feet 


16 feet 


10 


Stapleton. . . . 


Orient avenue. . . . 


100 feet 


16 feet 


10 


Stapleton .... 


Orient avenue. . . . 


100 feet 


16 feet 


16 


Garretson's . . 


Four Corners' road 


500 feet 


16 feet 


II 


Stapleton.. . . 


Trossack road .... 


730 feet 


16 feet 


12 


Clifton 


Hillside avenue. . . 


1600 feet 


16 feet 


12 


Stapleton .... 


Occident avenue . 


100 feet 


16 feet 


II 


Stapleton. . . . 


Occident avenue . 


100 feet 


16 feet 


13 


Stapleton. . . . 


Occident avenue . 


100 feet 


16 feet 


14 


Stapleton. . . . 


Occident avenue . 


100 feet 


16 feet 


16 


Stapleton. . . . 


Louis street 


300 feet 


16 feet 


II 


Stapleton .... 


Louis street 


200 feet 


16 feet 


20 



These streets are formed of eight inches of crushed 
trap (except Trossack avenue which is six inches) all 
thoroughly rolled with four inches of crown, and all 
except three have paved gutters. 



CONSTRUCTION OF A MACADAM ROAD. 

The earth roadbed must first be drained, and in flat 
streets where the usual deep side-ditches are impossible, 
there must be shallow brick paved gutters to take the 

166 



SUBGRADE. 

surface water at each side of the street and also porous 
tile drains, two feet below them, to collect the ground 
water and carry it to the sewers. See page lo. 
Curbs will usually be required for a city street. 

SUBGRADE. 

The subgrade, must then be cleared of all soft and 
loose material, preparatory to forming it on the best 
grades obtainable, with a regular crown or convexity of 
about one-half inch per foot for any grade up to five 
per cent and for widths up to sixteen feet, and of 
three-fourths inch per foot for steeper grades. (See 
page 36.) Old roadbeds usually have more or less 
hard and firm material beneath the objectionable dust 
and mud, and this firm substratum should be dis- 
turbed as little as possible by establishing the grade 
line high enough to avoid it. 

A steam roller passing over an earth roadbed will 
disclose the existence of a surprising number of yield- 
ing places and soft spots wdiich could never be found 
in any other way, but which can readily be filled, or 
excavated and refilled and re-rolled, until the earth is 
regular and equally hard throughout. 

Instead of first forming the side-ditches and the 
crowned subgrade, as is usually done, it is sometimes 
better practice and easier for the roller to grade the road- 
bed flat in cross-section and at about two inches below 
the desired elevation of the center of the crowned sub- 
grade ; deferring the ditches until the last, unless their 
excavation is at once necessary to provide grading 
material or to take storm water. 

On this flat roadbed, use the roller and admit traffic 
until the whole surface is so hard that the wheels of a 

167 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

loaded wagon leave no ruts. When ready to prepare for 
spreading stone, stake out the proposed macadam and 
drive twenty-four inch by one-half inch steel pins fifty 
feet apart along each edge and stretch a cord at the 
correct elevation of the proposed surface of the base 
course : then use square-end shovels and picks to cut 
down four inches along the cords, sloping the cut to 
nothing at three feet toward the center for a sixteen feet 
roadway, or more for a wider one : throw the excavated 
material into the center to form the crown and roll it 
till firm, making the center at the right elevation and 
forming the desired crow^n to receive the stone. The 
side ditches can be left to be dug and paved after the 
completion of the macadam roadway. Several expe- 
rienced contractors who have doubtfully tried this 
method, have adopted it as their regular practice. 

All precautions must be taken to secure the per- 
manence and solidity and dryness of the subgrade, and 
it is an economy for the contractor during construction 
to get it as hard as described because this prevents the 
loss of costly crushed stone, and it is also an economy 
in future maintenance by prolonging the life of the 
roadway. 

Broken stone roads have been " built " in cities by 
spreading six inches of good crushed trap upon the 
mud and dust of a soft subgrade with the result of total 
failure within two years. 

Sand Subgrade. — A subgrade of sand which will 
not consolidate even when wet, may be fixed by cover- 
ing with three inches of loam, or of shale or gravel, or 
with a, thin layer of broken stone, either of which will 
probably consolidate under the roller after wetting. 
Peculiarly loose sand is sometimes found, into which 

1 68 



SUBGRADE. 

one's arm can be thrust to the elbow, and this has been 
bound as above. This difficult condition is also well 
met in an article entitled " Economic Design of Streets 
and Pavements," by H. P. Gillette, M. Am. Soc. C. E., 
re-printed from the Engineering News, in the very 
complete 1901 report of the highway commissioner 
for New Jersey, the late Henry I. Budd, as follows: 

" Sand can be made quite as unyielding as gravel simply by filling 
the voids with fine dust or pulverized sand. No rolling is 
necessary. Water, if supplied in abundance, will puddle sand 
to which fine dust has been supplied, until the sand becomes 
hard and unyielding." 

A telford base may be required as discussed on page 
152. A layer, one and one-half inches thick, of three- 
quarter inch to one inch broken stone, coated with hot 
bitumen and rolled at once, will serve in an extreme 
case where simpler ways fail. 

Clay Subgrade. — Subgrades of slippery clay showing 
increasing waves when rolled with a twelve ton to fif- 
teen ton roller, have been consolidated, after subdrain- 
ing with buried tiles, by covering the clay with a layer 
of freshly-cut straw and then rolling with a lighter 
roller, ten tons in weight. This has also been done by 
covering the clay with a single layer of quarter inch 
to half inch green brush, rolled into the moist clay 
and then covered with an inch of sand and again 
rolled. 

Small areas or " pockets " of springy wet clay must 
be removed, or must be drained and then covered with 
a layer of gravel or coarse sand. 

Settling a Clay Subgrade. — It is sometimes best, and 
has been done with good results, to rough-grade a 
clayey subgrade and to let it stand under traffic for some 

169 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

months, or better through a winter, before preparing it 
to receive the broken stone. 

Sandy Loain Subgj^ade. — This is most difficult when 
the particles are very fine, so that the capillary attrac- 
tion prevents sub-drains from taking the ground- water; 
in such case, this part of the road must be watched 
during the first wet season after completion, and if it 
shows signs of yielding under traffic, the layer of broken 
stone must be increased in thickness, as is discussed on 
page 177, in the quotation from W. E. McClintock, M. 
Am. Soc. C. E. 

Various expedients must be tried until one is found, 
by which the subgrade will remain firm and smooth 
when the broken stone is spread and rolled upon it, so 
that the fragments shall not work down into the sub- 
grade, nor the material of the subgrade work up am.ong 
the fragments, under the action of the roller. The 
stone thus saved is worth more than the cost of this 
special w^ork. 

Remove Stones. — Stones or rocks lying within half 
a foot of the top of the subgrade, and which are larger 
than six inches, should be removed, lest they serve as 
anvils on which traffic will crush the road-metal. 

QUALITY OF ROCK TO BE BROKEN. 

The rock should be hard, tough, durable and uni- 
form in character, fracturing with a toothed surface and 
showing a tendency to break into cubes rather than 
into flakes. This latter pecularity occurs with some 
rocks which would otherwise be good, and in one case 
was found to be the direct result of excessive use of 
dynamite in the quarry. 



170 



CRUSHING. 



The rock should have a composition which cements 
when wet and rolled, and should come clean from the 




Tailings larger than 3 inches 
lo return to crusher. 



Wagon loading irnshed 
stone from bin. 



Screens and bins for screenings 
and tbiee sizes of stones. 



Cart flumping rncl^ from quarry 
onto platlorm o>er crublicr, 

Crusher producing 135 cubic 
yds. crushed stone per daJ^ 



CRUSHING AND SCREENING ROCK. 



quarry to the crusher. A softer rock may be crushed 
for the base course, and its screenings will usually form 
a good filler for it. (See page i6i.) 



CRUSHING. 

The crusher should be placed where the rock will 
pass down from the ledge through the crusher and 
through the bins into the wagons, and then down-hill 
to the work. The crusher should be set to produce 
the largest size specified, and the whole product should 
then be screened through a series of three revolving^ 

171 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

screens or cylinders pierced with circular holes, set on 
a slope so that the material passes slowly as the screens 
revolve into separate bins for each size. Thin slabs 
and long pieces and the " tailings," should be re-crushed. 
Sixty cubic yards of solid rock in the ledge allowing 
for quarry w^aste will make about loo cubic yards of 
loose rock which will produce about 125 to 135 cubic 
yards of the different sizes measured separately. 

The following results were obtained in crushing hard 
flinty limestone weighing 168 pounds per solid cubic 
foot, or 2 171 pounds per cubic yard of quarry frag- 
ments of one to two cubic foot each, of which a mass 
showed fifty-two per cent of voids and 100 cubic yards 
produced as follows: 



Size of screened 
products. 


( 


Number of 
3ubic yards. 


Weight per 
cubic foot. 


Per cent of 
voids. 


inch to i}4 inch . . 
}4 inch to ys inch . . 


I 


95 


( 96 pounds 
( 91.5 pounds 


43 

45-5 


y inch to Y^g- inch . . 




14 


92 pounds 


45-2 


j\ inch to dust inch . 




19 


93 pounds 


44.6 



One hundred and eighty cubic yards of quarry-rock 
were crushed in ten hours and the product was 
screened and put in bins and cars at a total cost for 
plant, fuel and wages of fourteen cents per cubic yard 
of product. The usual cost is twenty cents, and with 
a smaller crusher, thirty cents. 

The screens should be selected to produce the re- 
quired sizes, two and one-half inch circular holes giving 
what are known to dealers as " two inch " stone : one 
and one-fourth inch holes giving " one inch," used for 
the binder-coat of asphalt pavement : one inch holes 
giving " three-fourths inch : " one-half inch holes giving 
" screenings : " one-fourth inch holes giving " one-eighth 
inch dust." 

172 




Preparing subgrade. 




Finishing subgrade. 




Spreading and binding foundation stone. 

RIVER-ROAD NEAR BUFFALO, NEW YORK. 
Surface of two inches of trap rock on base of four inches of limestone. 



173 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

The required sizes vary as indicated in the following 
table showing the practice during 190 1-2 in the States 
named : 

Sizes of Broken Stone and Thickness of Courses, in Inches. 





Lower Course 
OF Macad.wi. 


Upper Course 
OF Macadam. 


Surface. . 




STATE. 


Size of 
Frag- 
ments. 


Thick- 
ness 
after 
roll- 
ing. 


Size of 
Frag- 
ments. 


Thick- 
ness 
after 
roll- 
ing. 


Size of 
Frag- 
ments. 


Thick- 
ness 
after 
roll- 
ing. 


Size 

not 

used. 




Min. 


:\rax. 


Min. 


Max. 


Min. Max. 




New Jersey 

Massachusetts. 
Connecticut . . . 

New York 

! 


2 

IK 

7-V 

IK 


3 

2 
3 


4 

4 
4 
4 


1 

V7. 
1 
1 


2 

IK 

2 


2 

2 
2 
2 


dust 
dust 
dust 
dust 


K 
K 


smooth 
surface 
smooth 
surface 

1 


%tol 

none. 
'A to I 

none. 

* 



*Oue-half inch to oue inch spread on subgrade as one-tliird of the base course. 



FORMATION OF LOWER COURSE. 

The thickness of the layer of loose stone spread for 
this course should be gauged by five and one-half inch 
cubes of wood placed upon the subgrade, including a 
bottom layer not more than one and one-half inches 
thick of that part of the crusher product not otherwise 
required. 

The stone should be uniformly spread to this depth, 
beginning furthest from the source of supply in order to 
avoid driving over the loose stone, and using spreader- 
wagons to uniformly distribute it. If ordinary wagons 
are used, the stone should be shoveled from the wagons 
or from the roadside. If dumped in large piles upon 
the subgrade of the road, the position of each pile will 
be made evident after the road is finished. When sev- 
eral hundred feet of roadway have been covered, the roll- 
ing should begin along each edge, lapping on to the 

174 



FORMATION OF TOP COURSE. 

earth shoulder and rolHng each side several times until 
the fragments do not creep or weave before the roller 
when they will be compressed to four inches. No 
screenings or water should be put on till after this: 
the use of dry screenings is described on page 159. 

When the lower course is properly filled and bound 
it will be so firm and solid that loaded wagons can pass 
over it without leaving any mark, but the surface of 
the stone should be free from screenings. 

FORMATION OF TOP COURSE. 

The top course, perferably of trap, is then spread in 
the saine manner, using two and three-fourths inch 
gauge-blocks and rolling the loose stone to two inches, 
and until the fragments do not creep and weave, before 
spreading the dry screenings as described on page 160. 
Sometimes it is required that the rolling of the top 
course shall continue until the material is packed so 
firmly that an inch cube of trap laid upon the finished 
surface shall crush under the roller without sinking 
into the road surface. 

A properly made macadam pavement resembles a 
mass of concrete, and in several cases has proved self- 
supporting when the earth beneath it has been w^ashed 
out by floods, as is shown on the next page where is 
given a picture of a layer of overhanging macadam 
projecting two feet. 



175 



CITV ROADS AND TAVKMENTS. 



, 1 


.* 


<' §11 


|H 


^1 


f 




; rP%J|| 


^1 


^H 


' 




1 ^hr'wM 


^^^^1 


^^^^H 






M^i^^ '^^H 


^^^1 


^|H| 


» . 


r 




1^ ^' 


1 




\ 




L 





I— < 

o 
< 
Pi 

> 

c 
u 

K 
o 

;2 

(—1 

OQ 

< 
c 

'V' 

Q 
<J 

o 

< 



Smooth surface of rnadway. 



Cave made by washout. 



176 



CROWN OR SLOPE OF MACADAM SURFACE. 
THICKNESS OF BROKEN STONE FOR MACADAM ROADWAYS. 

Careful studies have been made by W. E. McClin- 
tock, M. Am. Soc. C. E., as to the bearing power of 
various soils in order to adjust the thickness of the 
layer of broken stone to suit the soil and the trafific. 
His valuable conclusions are given in the 1901 report 
of the Massachusetts highway commission, of which 
he was Chairman, as follows : 

" The Commission has estimated that non-porous soils, drained of 
ground-water, at their worst will support a load of about four 
pounds per square inch ; and having in mind these figures, the 
thickness of the broken stone has been adjusted to the traffic. 

" On a road built of fragments of broken stone, the downward pres- 
sure takes a line at an angle of forty-five degrees from the hori- 
zontal, and is distributed over an area equal . to the square of 
twice the depth of the broken stone. If a division of the load 
in pounds, at any one point, by the square of twice the depth 
of the stone in inches, gives a quotient of four or less, then will 
the road foundation be safe at all seasons of the year. On sand 
or gravel the pressure may safely be placed at twenty pounds 
per square inch. 

"Acting on this theory, the thickness of stone varies from four inches 
to sixteen inches, the lesser thickness being placed over good 
gravel or sand, the greater over heavy clay, and varying thick- 
nesses on other soils. In cases wdiere the surfacing of broken 
stone exceeds six inches in thickness, the excess in the base may 
be broken stone, stony gravel or ledge stone; the material used 
for the excess depending entirely upon the cost, either being 
equally effective." 

CROWN OR SLOPE OF MACADAM SURFACE. 

The convexity or crown of the roadway is usually 
made one-half inch to three-fourth inch per foot each 
way from the center-line for widths up to sixteen feet 
and one-half inch per foot for wider city streets. (See 
page 36). 

177 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

The curve must be regular so that no water can 
stand upon the surface and must be continued uniformly 
over the wings to the ditches or gutters at the sides so 
that w^ater will run off freely. 

The roadway may have a plane surface, sloping 
w^iolly to one side, with good results. This construc- 
tion is sometimes desirable when a street-car track 
occupies one side of the roadway and where it is neces- 
sary to drain the surface to one side : or when car-tracks 
occupy the center of the roadway and the macadam on 
each side must drain wholly to the ditch on that side. 
A nearly flat city street with forty feet width of mac- 
adam sloping regularly one-half inch per foot from one 
side to the other gave no trouble and was found in 
perfect order after several years use. 

COST. 

The cost of broken-stone roads varies with the local 
conditions and the supply of stone: the following 
approximate figures are for six-inch macadam complete, 
not including curbs or grading or drainage : 

With local stone available, suitable for both base and 
top and filler, forty-five to fifty cents per square yard. 

With local stone available for base only, top and filler 
coming from a distance, sixty to sixty-five cents per 
square yard. 

With no good local stone, all coming from a distance, 
seventy to seventy-five cents per square yard. 

For resurfacing roads, for which local stone is avail- 
able as in Massachusetts, the average cost is ten cents 
per square yard for each inch in thickness. (See page 

187.) 

178 



CAUTIONS. 
THINGS TO BE AVOIDED. 

The work should be so planned, and the traffic so 
diverted that there will be the least possible passing of 
wheels over the loose stone which have been spread to 
form the base course, or the top course, of a macadam 
roadway. The stones should be at once rolled, and 
should be bound together as soon as possible, in order 
to preserve the angles and the roughly fractured sur- 
faces which would be rounded and worn smooth by 

traffic. 

No screenings or sand, or earth from the subgrade, or 
" filler" or binder of any kind, should be allowed upon 
or among the regular fragments of loose stone until 
they shall have been thus rolled and consoHdated. It 
will be difficult, if not impossible, to properly bind the 
stones if any " filler " gets between the fragments while 
they are loose. 

E'xcessive rolling will injure the road, especially if 
there has been too much wetting, or if the stone is 
either soft or brittle. Experience is the only safe 
guide. 



AVERAGE COSTS OF MACADAM ROADS. 



# 



STATE. 


Year. 


Aver, 
depth 

in 
inches. 


Aver. 
cost 
persq. 
yd. in 
cents. 


Aver, 
width 
in feet. 


Rate of 

cost 
per mile. 


Details. 


Connecticut 

Massachusetts. . . 

New Jersey 

Wash, and Ore. . 
Mo. , Neb. & Kan. 
Illinois & Ohio. . 
Fla., Ala. & Va.. 


igo6 

1907 

1907 

1904-7 
1904-7 
1904-7 
1904-7 


6.74 

5. 
6.9 

7.6 

8.2 

9-3 
6.2 


79-7 

84.9 

59- 

83.9 
65.7 
74.8 
41.8 


15.4 

15 

13.6 

15-7 
I3-I 
I3-I 

12.8 


$7,018 

7,469 

4,707 

7,707 
5,123 

5,750 
3,082 


Inclu. eng'g, grad- 
ing and bridges. 

Exclu. eng'g and 
bridges. 

Exclu. eng'g, grad- 
ing and bridges. 

Inclu. culverts, 

bridges and 
- grading. 

Excluding eng'g 
and supervis. 



* From paper by M. O. Eldridge of U. S. Office of Public Roads, at the Paris 
International Road Congress, October, 1908. 



179 



MAINTENANCE. 



Broken-stone roads require constant care beginning 
as soon as they are opened to traffic. The cost is less 
for continuous attention than for deferred repairs. 

The system of roads which was built early in this 
century all over England, required then, and still con- 
tinues to require, the constant attention of an army of 
resident workmen living along the line of the roads and 
making never-ceasing repair of ruts and breaks as soon 
as they occur. Little piles of broken stone, or of stone 
to be broken, were and are never-absent evidences of 
constant care, and steam road rollers are often met 
when driving through the country. Such care is 
necessary and costly. 

In London and in Paris broken-stone roads are the 
roads of luxury; some of the finest streets having mac- 
adamized central driveways, bordered on each side by 
thirteen feet of sheet-asphalt. 

In Paris the annual cost of maintenance of suburban 
macadamized streets having light traffic is about one- 
third the original cost of building them. In some cases 
of extra heavy city traffic, the annual care costs one- 
third more than the original building; that is, the 
roadway fourteen inches thick has to be practically 
renewed every nine months. In such cases macadam 
is more costly than asphalt or wood blocks, which are 
therefore replacing it. 

1 80 



BROKEN-STONE ROADWAY. 




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i8i 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

The rocks available and used for broken-stone roads 
in Paris are inferior to those used in and about New 
York. Edward P. North, M. Am. Soc. C. E., in his 
standard book, " Construction and Maintenance of 
Roads," states that of the Paris broken-stone roads, 
"sixty-seven per cent are made of meuliere^ twenty-three per 
cent of porphyry and ten per cent of water-worn flint pebbles." 
Meuliere is a quartzite in which coarse grains of 
quartz are united by a peculiarly strong silicious cement. 
Neither the meuliere^ the porphyry nor the flint is equal 
in durability to diabase trap. 

The good condition of the Paris broken-stone roads, 
in spite of their indifferent materials, is the result of 
the perfect system of care which the French have 
learned to give to all their roads. One of the important 
avenues thus paved is the well-known driveway through 
the Bois de Boulogne. 

In any case, eternal vigilance and a continuing sup- 
ply of money are the price of a good system of mac- 
adam city roads. 

Raveling. — Loosening of the surface-stone, or " rav- 
eling" is the most common defect, and this is checked 
and prevented by covering the traveled surface with 
half an inch of coarse sand or of trap-rock or other 
screenings, and by renewing this whenever it is dis- 
placed by traffic, by storm-wash or by wind. This layer 
prevents the toe-calks of horses from loosening the frag- 
ments of stone, and retards evaporation from the binder 
in which the fragments are embedded. 

When the surface shows any loose fragments, these 
should be promptly restored to place if possible, or 
removed to one side, and the road should at once be 
thoroughly wetted, sanded and rolled. 

182 



MAINTENANCE. 



Rolling. — Rolling is of special importance in the 
spring, as soon as the frost is gone and before the road- 
way becomes hard and rigid; or during a soaking rain- 
fall while the road is somewhat plastic : the edges 
being rolled before the center, to restore and preserve 
the crown. This treatment will go far to keep the road 
in good condition for the rest of the year, especially if 
the traveled way is then covered with half an inch of 
sand or of screenings ; never with clay, ashes or loam, 
unless fully mixed with three to four times their bulk 
of coarse, sharp sand. 

Ruts. — When short ruts appear, as they sometimes 
will in the best of roads, especially during the first 
spring, the top layer of stone — usually two inches thick 
— should be taken out for a width a few inches more 
than the rut and for its full length. This will make a 
regular hole, which is slightly deeper in the middle 
than at the sides, and in which the fragments of stone 
should be replaced with a few additional ones of the 
same sizes and kind : the larger fragments being placed 
in the deeper center and the smaller ones toward the 
edges. 

The loose fragments must then be rammed with a 
paving rammer and packed and consolidated until level 
with the adjoining old surface. Screenings or sand 
must then be added and brushed to fill the voids, with 
a final free sprinkling to aid the binding and last ram- 
ming until the patch appears as firm as the rest of the 
road and the surface has been perfectly restored. A 
small rut can be thus repaired by one man in a few 
minutes so that the place cannot be found the next day. 
Special care is necessary that the patch is made no 
higher than the adjoining surface, as an elevation of 

183 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

even half an inch may cause ruts to form around the 
patch. When long ruts appear, as they sometimes do 
in the spring before the road has been rolled, put picks 
in one roller-wheel and run it along the rut, loosening 
the surface, which then level into the rut and then wet 
and roll smooth. 

Sometimes a rut consists of a slight depression be- 
tween two slight ridges, and this condition can be 
easily corrected when rain-soaked by rolling down the 
ridges with the wheels of a broad-tired wagon in which 
a heavy load of stone is piled over the rear axle. 

Ruts and hollows are best found and repaired during 
rain, when water shows the places and helps the re- 
pairs. 

It was formerly considered that all repairs of the top 
layer should only be made with fragments of the same 
size as those which originally formed it. Experience 
has shown that general and extended repairs were best 
made with "three-fourths inch stone," passing a one- 
inch ring. (See page 172.) 

As a usual practice, the same kind of rock as formed 
the original top layer should be used for its repair, 
because different kinds of rock must wear unequally. 
It is not well, for instance, to repair a trap-rock surface 
with patches of limestone, or the reverse. A different 
kind of rock may sometimes be used to good advantage 
when a continuous area is to be covered, as for example 
when a granitic surface has raveled and needs a two- 
inch layer of " three-fourths inch " limestone, or when a 
soft limestone surface has worn into ruts and needs a 
similar layer of trap or of granite. 

The common practice of spreading such a layer in 
the ruts and upon the hard, irregular surface of an old 

184 



COST OF MAINTENANCE. 

macadam road, leaving the loose layer for the action 
of wheels, is wasteful of material and needlessly an- 
noying to traffic, which should never be compelled or 
allowed to pass over loose broken stone, which should 
at once be packed and bound by wetting and rolling 
(see page i86). When the surface becomes irregular, 
or needs new stone, use a scarifier drawn by a steam- 
roller to loosen the surface and break up the ruts. A 
steam-roller can thus scarify perhaps 400 feet of 16-foot 
roadway during a forenoon and can re-roll it during 
the afternoon, and meantime the teeth of the scarifier 
can be sharpened for the next morning's work. 

Cleanbig. — Mud must be scraped from the surface 
of a broken-stone roadway whenever it becomes deep 
enough to show tracks and to hold water. If mud is 
allowed to accumulate to a general thickness of one to 
two inches, and to remain, it will work down between 
the fragments of stone and eventually will destroy their 
bond. When this condition has been reached, resur- 
facing the road will mean re-building it at a greater 
cost than to have kept it clean. 

Shotilders and Ditches. — These must be kept in regu- 
lar form, and the washouts filled, and the ditches cleared 
of sediment and dead leaves, and freed from growing 
weeds and grasses. 

Cost, — Definite figures for this work on city streets 
are not easily kept separately, but the accounts of the 
expenses of thus maintaining rural broken-stone roads 
have been closely kept by the Massachusetts highway 
commission for several years and are given for 166 
roads with a total length of 334 miles. 

Six of these roads, with a total length of seven miles, 
were evidently extreme cases and are not here included. 

185 



CITY ROADS AND PAVEMENTS. 

The remaining i6o roads, 327 miles long, ranged in 
cost of maintenance from about $4. per mile to about 
$300 per mile and averaged $yo per mile. The mac- 
adam surface of these roads is usually fifteen feet wide, 
being 8800 square yards per mile, and this at $yo 
equals eight-tenths of a cent per square yard per year 
for maintenance: — $100 per mile is a fair allowance. 

RE-SURFACING. 

A trap-rock road will ordinarily endure for several 
years without re-surfacing, but a limestone road will 
need it much sooner, because it wears faster and blows 
away more readily. 

Whenever the surface of any broken-stone road 
becomes worn and irregular and the lower stones are 
exposed in spots, it needs re-surfacing. The street 
should be treated in sections 300 or 400 feet long, or 
as much as the force can begin and finish each day. 
The steam-roller with picks in the wheels, (or better, 
drawing a scarifier) should be run over half of this sec- 
tion to loosen the top layer. If mud is found to be 
mixed with the fragments of stone in the road, rakes 
and potato-forks must be used to separate and save the 
stones, which can be used again with the addition of 
enough new stone of the same size and kind (usually 
trap-rock) to restore the original thickness. If the road 
has been kept properly free from mud, it will only be 
necessary to add to the loosened top a single layer of 
one-inch to two-inch fragments, (or a two-inch layer of 
three-fourths inch fragments) and to roll them into the 
loosened top layer, until all is solid and firm, binding 
with sand or with screenings, and wetting and rolling 
until a wave of "grout" goes before the roller, from 

186 



COST OF MAINTENANCE. 

which the picks have of course been removed. The 
operations can then be repeated on the other half, and 
the section opened to traffic the next day. 

Cost, — This re-surfacing will require about 300 cubic 
3ards of loose stone and about fifty cubic yards of 
screenings per mile of fifteen-foot roadway, the cost of 
which will vary with the freight charges. In Massa- 
chusetts, wdiere there are no long hauls by railroad, 
the cost is $700 to $880 per mile, or eight cents to ten 
cents per square yard of surface for each inch of fin- 
ished thickness of the broken stone. 

EFFECTS OF MOTOR-CAR TRAVEL. 

The foregoing comments relate to the conditions 
existing up to 1906, until which time the only destruc- 
tive forces were, — the feet of horses, the iron tires of 
wheels and the action of wind, water and frost. Dur- 
ing and since 1906, it has come to be recognized, not 
only on the comparatively new road systems of Massa- 
chusetts, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey and 
other States, but also on the old systems of England, 
France, Germany and Italy, that the vastly increasing 
numbers of motor-cars are now most important factors 
and that the methods of road construction and mainte- 
nance which have heretofore been successful, have 
failed to meet the new demands. The character of road- 
surface must be bettered by using refined coal-tar or 
liquid asphalt, or bitumen in some form, instead of water,, 
to mix with the materials, holding the stones and 
binder firmly in place and preventing dust formation. 

This must be done if the building of crushed stone 
roads is to continue, or if existing roads are to be 
preserved. 

The author issued in 1908 a discussion of the sub- 
ject of " Road Preservation and Dust Prevention," de- 
tailing the various methods which have been used. 

187 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Abrasion tests — brick, 88, 89; broken stone 145, 149 

Albany, N. Y.— asphalt, 26, 118, 120, 130; block stone, 26, 64; brick, 
86, 95, 98, 130; limestone near. 141; plank roads, 67; railroad, first 

passenger road, 20; wheel tracks, stone 19 

Alexandria, La, — brick 100 

Alton, III. — brick 84 

Alleghany, Pa. — asphalt, 26; block stone, 26; brick 84, 99 

Altooxa, Pa. — asphalt 56 

Ancient pave:ments 17 

Annapolis, Md. — asphalt block, 128; brick 100 

Asphalt pavements 103 

American sheet asphalt — 

Artificial mixture 104 

Asphalt 109 

Sources of 108 

Base 112 

Binder 112, 113 

Care in building 110, 111 

Cost 56, 120 

Failures, causes of 124 

Complete 

Cracks 

Disintegration b}' fires, gas, kerosene 126 

Foundation — brick, cobbles, concrete, macadam, stone 

blocks 112 

Guarantee 108, 120 

Materials and methods 109 

Preference for, comparative 130 

Proportions 110 

Rolling 114 

Sand 110, 111 

Wearing surface 114 

Crown 30, 118 

Grades, steep 118 

Block, asphalt 127 

Cost 128 

Extent, materials, proportions 127 

Use 129 

Leuba blocks 128 

Companies 1 07 

Extent of use 104 

History 103 

Atchison, Kan. — ^brick 84, 100 

Atlanta, Ga.— asphalt, 26, 56, 118, 130; brick, 84, 95, 130; block 

stone 26, 64 

Aurora, III. — asphalt 120 

Baltimore, Md. — asphalt, 56, 120, 130; concrete-mixer, 51; brick, 98 130 

wood blocks 78 

Bellaire, Ohio — brick 84 

BiNGHAMTON, N. Y.— asphalt, 130; brick 84, 95, 130 

Birmingham, Ala. — brick 100 

189 



INDEX. PAGE. 

BiTULiTHic PAVEMENTS, 131; Construction, 132, 133; cost, 134; ex- 
tent, guarantee, grade, 135; opinions and results, 137; proportions, 

131 ; use 136 

Block stone pavements 57 

Cost 63 

Defects 50 

Joints, filler for 62 

Kinds of rock — 

Granite 57 

Sandstone 61 

Trap 57 

Merits 61 

Mileage 64 

Strength 61 

Bloomington, III. — brick 84 

Boston, Mass.— asphalt, 26, 36, 56, 130; block stone, 26, 36, 64; brick, 

130; macadam, 138; wood block 36, 65, 67, 73, 78 

Brick pavements 82 

Construction of 92, 95 

Base for 92, 94 

Cushion of sand 34, 92, 95 

Joints, expansion 97 

Fillers of joints 96 

Cost of 96, 99 

Paving cement, bituminous 96 

Portland cement 93, 96 

Sand 96 

Cost of 84, 98, 100 

Crown 33, 95 

Curb 39 

Extent 82, 85, 91, 130 

Failures of 86 

Fusion of material 87 

Guarantee 101 

Material 87 

Noise 85, 96 

Preference for, comparative 130 

Qualities, hard, strong, tough 89 

Reaction against use 85 

Region of production 86 

Rolling 93 

Steep grades for 98 

Success of 87 

Tests- 
Abrasion 88, 89 

Absorption 90 

Examination in use 81 , 83, 90 

Brocton, Mass. — bituminous macadam 135 

Broken stone roads 138 

Macadam pavements — 

Binder for 156, 157 

Modes of use; England, France, 157; Connecticut, New 

Jersey, 158; Massachusetts, New York 159 

Quality; limestone, trap, 160; granite, 161; sand, 

157. 159, 161 

Quantity 161 

Screenings 156, 160 

Cautions ' •• • 1^^ 

Construction 166 

190 



INDEX. PAGE. 

Broken stone roads — {Continued) — 

Cost 178 

Courses — 

Lower 174 

Rolling 174, 175 

Thickness 177 

Top 175 

Crown ;3G, 167, 177 

Curve of 34, 178 

Grades, steep 162 

Gutters, paved 165 

Rolling — 

Courses — 

Lower 174 

Top 175 

Excessive 179 

Sub-grade.. . 12, 167 

Screenings (See Binder) 156, 160 

Sprinkling 159, 160, 161 

Sub-grade — 

Cl&Y 169 

Drainage 8 

Dryness 168 

Loam 170 

Sand 168 

Stones in 170 

Sub-drainage 10, 169 

Stones — 

Loose 179 

Screenings 172 

Sizes 174 

Sub-grade 170 

Water for — 

Quantity 161 

Maintenance — 

Cleaning 184 

Cost 180-185 

Raveling 182 

Re-surfacing 185 

Cost 186 

Rolling 183 

Ruts 183 

Scarifier 185-186 

Stone for 183 

Rock for roads- 
Cobbles 143 

Crushing 171 

Flint. 182 

Granite 140 

Limestone 141 

Meuliere 182 

Porphyry 140 

QualitV.1 170 

Quartzite 140 

Sandstone 143 

Sizes 172, 174 

Tests 146 

IQI 



INDEX. PAGE 

Broken stone roads — (Continued) — 

Machine for 145 

Results of 148, 149 

Trap 139 

Uniformity 143 

Sand for binder 1 -37 159, 161 

Screens 1 72 

Systems 150 

Cost, relati\e 153 

Macadam 150 

Telford 150-153 

Telford pavements 150-153 

Construction 151, 154, 155 

Cost 153 

Defects 152 

Extent 154 

Merits 153 

Mileage 139, 156 

Sizes of stones 154 

Brookline, Mass. — macadam 138, 166 

Buffalo, N. Y.— asphalt, 26, 36, 56, 104, 118, 119, 121, 130; block 
stone, 26, 36, 61, 64; brick, 84, 95, 130; limestone near, 141; mac- 
adam streets, 38 ; wood blocks 36 

Burlington, Ia. — brick 84 

Cambridge, Mass. — bituminous macadam, 132, 135; brick, 92, 93; 

macadam 138, 165 

Car Tracks — construction of 40 

Catskill, N. Y. — brick 86 

Cedar Rapids, Ia. — asphalt, 120; brick 84 

Charleston, S. C. — asphalt, 118; bituminous macadam 135 

Charleston, W Va. — brick 84 

Chattanooga, Tenn. — asphalt 56 

Chelsea, Mass. — macadam 165 

Chicago, III. — asphalt, 28, 36; block stone, 26, 36, 64; brick, 84; 

cedar block, 26, 36, 67; curbs, 39; wood blocks 68, 77 

Chillicothe, Ohio — asphalt block, 128; brick 99, 100 

Cincinnati, Ohio — asphalt, 26, 56, 120; block stone, 26, 64; brick. . 84 
Cleveland, Ohio — asphalt, 56, 130; block stone, 61, 63, 64; brick, 91 

130; curbs, 39; bituminous macadam 135 

Clinton, Ia. — brick 84 

Clinton, Mass. — macadam 165 

Cobble pavements 21, 57 58 

Columbia I^niversity; tests of materials 146 

Columbus, Ohio — asphalt, 26, 56, 120, 130; block stone, 26, 61, 64* 

brick 84, 90, 91, 95, 98, 100, 113, 118, 130 

Concrete pavements 64 

Concrete 42 

Aggregates 47 

Base 42 

Bond 52 

Brine 54 

Cement (see Hydraulic cement) 43 

Results of tests 46 

Cost 55 

Crusher dust 47 

Freezing — 

Avoid 54 

Limit of cold 54 

192 



INDEX. PAGE. 

Concrete — {Continued) — 
Mixing — 

Hand 48 

Machine 50 

Monolith 25 

Plastering 53 

Proportions 48 

Sand ^ 48 

Loam in. . . " 48 

Pit . . 48 

Washing 48 

Setting 53 

• Surface 53 

Water 49 

Wetting 53 

Cost of pavements. 26, 56, 84, 100, 120, 128, 135, 153, 178 

CoNNELLSviLLE, Pa. — brick 84 

Cornell University — tests of materials 147 

Cortland, N Y. — -asphalt 120 

Council Bluffs, Ia. — brick 84, 100 

Crown of pavements — 30; formulae for, 30, 32; form of, 34; asphalt, 

33-118; brick, 33, 95; wood block, 33; macadam ^ 36, 167, 177 

Culverts — cast iron, 37; concrete, 37; masonry, 37; vitrified pipe. . . 37 
Curbs — blue stone, 38; brick, 39; concrete, 39; cost, 40; combined, 39; 
corners, 40; granite, 38; limestone, 38; sandstone, 38; setting, 38; 

sizes 39 

Davenport, Ia. — brick 84 

Dayton, Ohio— asphalt, 118, 130; brick, 84, 91, 95 130 

Decatur, III. — brick 84 

Denver, Col. — asphalt, 26, 36; block stone 26 

Des Moines, Ia. — asphalt, 56; brick, 84, 98, 100; cedar blocks 68 

Detroit, Mich. — asphalt, 26, 118, 130; block stone, 26; brick, 84, 91, 

95, 130; cedar blpcks 68 

Dubuque, Ia. — brick 84 

DuLUTH, Minn. — cedar blocks 68 

Dunkirk, N. Y. — brick 84 

Dirt roads — 7; rolling, 12; smooth in winter 12 

Drainage — 8; sub-drains 9, 10 

Elmira, N. Y.— asphalt, 118, 130; brick 95, 130 

Erie, N. Y.— asphalt, 118, 130; brick 95, 98, 130 

Evansville, Ind. — brick 84 

Falls — of horses 36 

FiNDLAY, Ohio — brick 84, 100 

Fort Wayne, Ind.— asphalt, 56, 118, 120, 130; brick 84, 95, 130 

Galveston, Tex. — yellow pine blocks 68 

Galesburg, III. — brick 84 

Garrett, Ind. — brick 100 

Glens Falls, N. Y.— brick 97 

Grand Rapids, Mich.— asphalt, 118, 130; brick 95, 130 

Hannibal, Mo. — brick 84 

Harrisburg, Pa. — asphalt, 118, 130; brick. 95, 130 

Hartford, Conn. — asphalt, 118; brick 84 

Harvard University — tests of materials 146 

HoLYOKE, Mass. — bituminous macadam 135, 136 

Houston, Tex.— asphalt, 118, 120, 130; brick 95, 130 

Hydraulic cement — 
Natural — 

Use of 43, 56 

193 



INDEX. PAGE. 

Hydraulic cement — (Coufvtued) — 

Tests of 43 

Proportions 48 

Portland — 

Increase of 42 

Proportions 48 

Tests of . . 43 

Chemical 45 

Colorino; 46 

Fineness 43 

Hot water 44 

Piiritv 44 

Results 46 

Weijrhts 46 

Use of 47 

Blending 47 

Indianapolis, Ind. — brick, 84; wood l)locks 69, 70, 76, 77 

Jackson, Mich.— asphalt, 118, 130; brick 95, 130 

Jacksonville, III. — brick 84 

JoLiET, III.— asphalt, 118, 120, 130: brick 95, 98, 130 

Johns Hopkins University — tests of materials. . . 147 

Kansas City, Kan.— asphalt, 26, 56; block stone, 26; cedar block. . . 26 
Kansas City, Mo.— asphalt, 26, 126; block stone, 26; brick, 84, 97; 

cedar blocks, 26 ; cypress blocks 68 

Keokuk, Ia. — brick 84 

Kenosha, Wis. — brick 84 

Kewanee, III.— brick 99, 100 

Kingston, X. Y. — wheel tracks, stone 22, 23 

Lafayette, Ind. — asphalt, 56; brick 84 

Lancaster, Pa. — brick 84 

Lexington, Ky. — brick 84 

Lincoln, X^eb. — brick 84 

Little Falls, X. Y. — granite near 141 

LocKPORT, N. Y. — ^brick 84 

Long Island City, X". Y. — asphalt 123 

Los Angeles, Cal. — asphalt 56 

Louisville, Ky. — brick 84, 91 

Loads — comparative 25 

London — Australian hardwood blocks 71 

Macadam 180 

Lowell, Mass. — bituminous macadam 132, 135 

Macadam pavement — (See Broken Stone Roads, 138.) 

Malden, Mass. — macadam 165 

Mansfield, Ohio— asphalt, 118, 130; brick 95, 98, 130 

Marion, Ohio— asphalt, 118, 130; brick 130 

Massillon, Ohio — brick 84 

^Ielbourne, Australia — ^hardwood blocks 74 

Medford, Mass. — ^macadam 138, 166 

Me:\iphis, Tenn. — brick 84 

Meriden, Conn. — asphalt, 118; brick 95 

Milwaukee, Wis.— asphalt, 26, 56, 118, 120, 130; block stone, 26; 

brick, 95, 98, 130; cedar blocks 26, 68 

Minneapolis, Minn. — asphalt, 26, 130; block stone, 26, 63; brick, 130; 

wood block 26, 68 

Montreal, Canada — asphalt, 56 ; tamarack blocks 68 

Motor-Cars — effects of 187 

Motor-Trucks — to haul crushed stone 149 

MuNCiE, IxD. — asphalt 118 

Nashville, Tenn. — brick 98 

Xeuchatel, Switzerland — asphalt blocks 128 

194 



INDEX. PAGE. 

Newark, X. J, — asphalt 104 

New Bedford, Mass. — bituiniuous macadam 135 

New Cumberland, W \'a. — brick 87 

New Haven, Conn. — asphalt, 130; brick 130 

New Orleans, La.— asphalt, 26, 36, 56, 118, 120, 130; block stone, 26, 

36; brick, 95, 130; wood block 36 

Newport News, Va. — asphalt 56 

New Rochelle, N. Y. — wood blocks 78 

Newton, Mass — maicadam 138, 164 

New York City, boroughs of 
Brooklyn — 

Asphalt 26, 28, 36, 56, 106, 117, 126 

Block stone 26, 36, 64 

Cobbles 58, 116 

Curbs 38 

Macadam 139 

Bronx — 

Asphalt 107 

Macadam 139 

Manhattan — 

Asphalt 26, 36, 56, 102, 104, 107, 113, 118, 121, 126 

Asphalt block 127, 129 

Bituminous macadam 135 

Block stone 26, 36, 59, 64 

Cobbles 58 

Curbs 38 

Macadam 139 

AVood blocks 36, 61, 67, 79 

Queens — 

Macadam 139 

Richmond — 

Macadam 139, 166 

Niagara Falls, N. Y. — asphalt base, 55; brick 97 

Norwich, N. Y. — bituminous macadam 135 

Oakland, Cal. — redwood blocks 68 

Clean, N. Y.— brick 84 

Omaha, Neb.— asphalt, 26, 36, 56, 118; block stone, 26, 36; brick, 84; 

cypress blocks, 68 ; wood block 36 

Oswego, N. Y. — asphalt, frontispiece, 120, 126; block stone, 26; brick, 

frontispiece 

Ottawa, III. — brick 84 

Owensboro, Ky. — asphalt 120 

Paris — asphalt, 103; concrete base, 53; macadam, 180, 181, 182; wood 

blocks 70 

Parkersburg, W. Ya. — brick 98 

Pam'tucket, R. I. — bituminous macadam 135 

Peoria, III.— asphalt, 56, 118, 120, 130; brick 84, 95, 98 

Philadelphia, Pa.— asphalt, 26, 33, 104, 130; block stone, 26, 36, 64; 

brick, 84, 87, 98, 130; wood block 36, 67 

Pittsburg, Pa. — asphalt, 26, 56, 118, 119; block stone 26 

PoNTL\c, ]Mich. — asphalt block 128 

Portland, Me. — asphalt, 26; block stone 26 

Preface 5 

Pressure — of wheels, 13; of structures 15 

Providence, R. I.— asphalt, 26, 56; block stone, 26; brick 84, 99 

QuiNCY, III. — brick 84 

Rails — splices of, 41 ; stone 21 

Richmond, Va. — block stone 64 

Rochester, N. Y.— asphalt, 26, 56, 119, 120, 130; block stone, 26, 61, 
62, 64; brick, 84, 100, 130; car tracks 40, 41 

195 



INDEX. PAGE. 

RocKFORD, III. — brick 84 

Koc'K Island, III. — brick 84 

Rolling 10 

Dirt roads 12 

ROAL\N ROADS 17 

Const ruction of 18 

Cost of 18 

Thickness of 16 

RoNDOUT, N. Y. — wheel tracks, stone 23 

St. Joseph, Mo.— asphalt, 118, 130; brick 98, 100, 130 

St. Louis, Mo. — block stone, 64; brick 81, 83, 90 

St. Paul, Minn.— asphalt, 26, 56, 118, 120, 130; block stone, 26, 63, 

64; brick, 84, 95, 100, 130; cedar block, 26; curbs 39 

Salem, N. J. — Bituminous macadam 135 

Salt Lake City, Utah — asphalt 118 

San Antonio, Tex. — asphalt, 56, 120; mesquite blocks 68 

Sand — 

Cushion 34, 95 

Binder for macadam roads 157, 159, 161 

Filler for joints 61, 96 

Stre-v^Ti on pavement 28, 71, 121 

For concrete 48 

Washing 48 

Sandusky, Ohio— asphalt, 118, 120, 130; brick 95, 130 

San Francisco, Cal. — asphalt, 56, 106, 118; block stone, 26; redwood 

blocks 68 

Scarifier 185, 186 

Schenectady, N. Y. — wheel tracks, stone 19, 22 

Schuylerville, N. Y. — trap-rock near 140 

ScRANTON, Pa.— asphalt, 56, 118, 130; brick 84, 95, 130 

Sew^ers — increased size 8 

Sidney, N. S. W. — concrete base, 53; Australian hardwood blocks. . 71 

So:merville, N. J. — macadam and telford streets 153 

Somerville, Mass. — macadam streets 165 

Splices of rails — electrical, 41 ; cast iron 41 

Spokane, Wash. — asphalt 56 

Springfield, III. — brick 84 

Springfield, Mass. — asphalt, 118, 130; brick, 95, 130; macadam, 138; 

w^ood blocks 78 

Sprinkler _ 12 

Steam railroad — first passenger railroad. ., 20 

Steam roller 11 

Weight 12 

Tests.. 12 

Durability 13 

Steep grades — asphalt, 27, 118; bitulithic pavement, 30, 135: block 
stone, 28, 29 ; brick, 28, 98; broken stone, 29, 164, 166 ; w^ood block . . 29 

Stone rails 21 

Stone w^heel-tracks (See Wheel-Tracks) 18 

Streets — residence, 7; wddth of 8 

Sub-grade — drainage of, 9; rollinir of, 42; test of 42 

Steubenville, Ohio — brick 84 

Superior, Wis. — cedar blocks 68 

Surface — crown of. 30, 95, 118; reduction of, 7; ideal, 30; curve of . . 34 

Syracuse, X. Y.— asphalt, 26, 28, 118; block stone, 26; brick 84 

Taunton, Mass. — bituminous macadam 135 

Terre Haute, Ind.— asphalt. 118, 130; brick, 84, 91, 95 130 

Tests — brick, 88, 89; cement, 43; stone 145, 149 

Toledo, Ohio— asphalt, 26, 56, 118, 120, 130; asphalt block, 128: block 
stone, 26, 61, 64: brick 84, 91, 98, 100, 130 

196 



INDEX. PAGE. 

Tolls 20, 23, 67 

ToPEKA, Kan. — brick 94 

Toronto, Canada — asphalt, 56, 118, 130; brick, 95, 130; cedar blocks, 68 

Traffic — pressure of 13 

Troy, N. Y.— asphalt, 118, 130; block stone, 64; brick.. . . 84, 95, 98, 130 

Utica, N. Y. — asphalt, 26, 56; block stone 26 

Waltham, Mass. — macadam 165 

Washington, D. C— asphalt, 26, 36, 56, 104, 107, 109, 130; asphalt 
block, 127; block stone, 26, 36, 64; brick, 84, 130; curbs, 38; wood 

block 36 

Water — quantity for puddling 161 

Watertown, N. Y. — brick 84 

Wheeling, W. Va.— brick 84, 98 

Wheel-Tracks, stone 18 

Albany, N. Y 19 

Kingston, N. Y 23 

Schenectadv, N, Y 19 

Cost of ". 21, 24 

Wide tires 13 

Wilmington, Del. — block stone, 26; brick 84 

Winchester, Mass. — ^macadam 165 

Winnipeg — asphalt 56 

WoRURN, Mass. — macadam 165 

W OOD PAVEMENTS , 66 

American, latest types 74 

Creo-resinate 78 

Cost; guarantee 80 

Creosote, quantit}^ of ; details 79 

Localities 78 

Pine heartwood ; rosin ; treatment 79 

Kreodone-creosote 77 

Cost ; creosote, quantitj" of 77 

Details; guarantee; localities 77 

Treatment 77 

American, older types — 

Cedar blocks, round 26, 67 

Cost; details; extent 67, 68 

Cedar, Oregon, creosoted — cost 70 

Cedar, Washington, creosoted — heaved 70 

Corduroy roads 66 

C3'press blocks 68 

Mesquite blocks 68 

Pine blocks — various, 70, 79; j^ellow 68, 79 

Plank roads. . . . .' 66 

Redwood blocks 68 

Tamarack blocks 68 

Australian hard woods 71 

Concrete base 72 

Cost ^ 71 

Curbs; details; expansion joints 72 

Life.._ 74 

Sanding 71 

Crown 30, 32 

Grades 28 

Joints, grooved 29 

Noiseless 74-79 

YoNKERS, N. Y. — bitulit^ic pavement 135 

197 



COMMENTS ON SECOND EDITION 

Upon the value of the book as a text-book for students, a refer- 
ence for engineers and road-builders, and a manual 
for officials of cities and villages. 



Engineering News, New York. 

The local features of the first edition of this book have been omitted, and 
new and later matter has been added to correspond with its title. Some 
interesting historical matter on earl}^ stone wheel-tracks in America is 
included, illustrated by recent views. There are also new tables for deter- 
mining standard crowns, and giving the grades and costs of different kinds 
of pavements and other valuable information of like character. Besides 
the discussion of "Broken Stone Roads," special mention may be made of 
the chapter on ''Concrete Base for Pavement," which takes up cement- 
tests in some detail and goes into the various phases of mixing and la^ang 
the concrete. The illustrations include a number of fine half-tone views 
of roads and pavements, both under construction and completed, many of 
which were reproduced from photographs taken during the past two years. 

The New York Tribune. 

A Valuable Book — One of the volmnes which every city engineer should 
have at hand is "City Roads and Pavements Suited to Cities of Moderate 
Size," by William Pierson Judson, member of the American Society of 
Municipal Improvements, the American Society of Civil Engineers and 
other organizations, and one of the best-known road-builders in the United 
States. The work goes into the details of street construction and main- 
tenance, including cost and materials, and shows a comprehensive knowl- 
edge and understanding of the subject. Mr. Judson's work on the high- 
ways of New York has made him well and widely known throughout this 
State, and the present volume, giving the results of his experience, is of 
value to every city and town where street improvement is under way or 
contemplated. 

Municipal Journal, New "^'ork. 

There have been many large and exhaustive treatises on paving and pav- 
ing materials, but what has been needed is a short, concise treatise on the 
present practice among cities relative to the laying of pavements, what 
kinds of pavements are most favored, and how different kinds of paving 
materials are wearing. "City Roads and Pavements," by William Pierson 
Judson of Oswego, N. Y., treats this broad subject concisely yet liberally 
enough to cover the main features. 

The author is a well-known member of the American Society of Municipal 
Improvements, of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and of the Eng- 



COMMENTS ON SECOND EDITION. 

li.sh Institution of Civil Engineers, and the first edition of his book, issued 
in 1894, has had a wide circulation. 

*********** 

A brief history is given of each pavement, its composition, method of 
laying, cost, durability, advantages and disadvantages, etc. Mr. !)^udson 
avoids the all-too-common practice of filling up pages with specifications 
which can be secured from city engineers for the asking. 

The author has incorporated some practical and simple tests for cements 
that do not require the expensive apparatus and methods usually employed. 
These tests, howe\'er, are entirely adequate for the purpose of detecting a 
poor cement and can be made at a cost of but a few dollars. Throughout 
the work tables are given which tell the practice of many cities. Cross 
references show where the same subject has been treated elsewhere in the 
book from a different phase. 

The 186 pages form a condensation of the actual results obtained on 
many works under varying conditions, and constitute a handy volume of 
fine appearance, which will be of interest and value to municipal officials 
and to all who are interested in road construction, and especially to stu- 
dents who are preparing themselves to build roads and pavements. 

Excellent illustrations are given to show the several pavements treated 
and how they are laid. A full index completes the work. 

The Engineering Record, New^ York. 

A book in which conciseness and accuracy of statement are materially 
assisted bj^ excellent illustrations, many of unique interest, is "City Roads 
and Pavements," by Mr. William Pierson Judson, M. Am. Soc. C. E. It 
is intended to supply information useful mainly in cities of moderate size, 
and is wholly free from padding of any sort, which makes it a good text 
book for schools as well as a practical manual for the officials of cities and 
villages. The preparation of streets for pavements, the construction of 
concrete foundations, and the relative merits and methods of laying stone 
block, wood, brick and asphalt are fully explained. The information is 
such as an engineer will find realh^ useful, and the figures of cost of work 
are fair averages. In the section on foundations, the author supplies direc- 
tions for simple cement tests with an outfit costing not over $4 and giving 
results which will reject no good cements but will keep out poor material. 
The detailed and practical directions for making monolithic concrete in- 
clude valuable features of actual good practice which are not known to be 
elsewhere published. The chapters on telford and macadam road building 
form by all odds the most practical and useful collection of data on the 
subject w^ith which this journal is acquainted. In the author's endeavor 
to be concise, he has perhaps stated without qualification opinions on a 
few disputed features of street and road work which some engineers will 
question, but in such matters his views are those of most road experts 
except as regards granite block paA^ements. His condemnation of these 
is too sweeping, as they give excellent streets at a fairly low cost in parts 
of the country where the blocks are prepared at local quarries. 

Buffalo Express. Buffalo, X. Y. 

Building Good Bonds. — ''City Roads and Pavements," by William Pier- 
son Judson, has been issued in a second edition by the Engineering News 
Publishing Companj^ of New York. This book deals especially with those 
varieties of hard-surfaced roads suitable for cities of moderate size, and 
that includes villages. The work is of value not only to engineers and con- 
tractors, but to the layman who because he is a tax-payer, a driver or an 
official is, or should be, interested in this important subject. 

Many commendations have been received from those who are able to 
judge of its practical value. ***** 



COMMENTS ON SFXOND EDITION. 

Brick, Chicago. 

We have perused with considerable interest a very valuable book, enti- 
tled "City Roads and Pavements," by William Pierson Judson, of Oswego, 
N. Y., M. Ain. Soc. C. E. and M. Inst. C. E. This work is devoted to a con- 
sideration of city roads and pavements suited to cities of moderate size. 
* * * A chapter on concrete base for pavements is of exceptional value. 
Simple and ready tests are given for hydraulic cement to ascertain its fine- 
ness, soundness, purity and weight, and special instructions are given for 
its manner of usage, of mixing, spreading, ramming and setting. * * * 
In the chapter on vitrified brick pavement, a very interesting table is given 
which is a summary of reports of the modes of construction, costs and 
results of brick pavements in sixty-five cities. * * * Various tests of 
brick are described as also different styles of construction for ordinary and 
steep grades. The work is written in a concise and lucid manner and 
should have a place on the book-shelves of every student of municipal 
reform. It may be secured from the publishers or from the office of 
"Brick." 

The Palladium, Osw^ego, N. Y. 

A hook that should he studied hy all thoughtful citizens. — ''City Roads and 
Pavements" is the title of a new book, by William Pierson Judson, M. Am. 
Soc. Municipal Improvement; M. Am. Soc. C._ E.; M. Inst. C E. * * * 

Mr Judson has for years past devoted his attention largely to road- 
building and pavements, and there is probably no man in the country 
more competent to discuss such subjects. For that reason his book should 
be read by all those, both in the city and country, who have any interest 
in the improvement of public thoroughfares. In 1894 Mr. Judson issued 
a book with a similar title. 

In his latest book Mr. Judson goes into the details of street construction 
and maintenance, and shows a thorough knowledge of the subject. Dur- 
ing several years Mr. Judson' s work on the highways of this State has made 
him widely known. 

Good Roads Magazine. New York. 
A New Book. 
* * * The best kinds of broken-stone roads, and the methods 
and machines by which such roads can be built and maintained, are 
described under the heading ''Broken-Stone Roads," without differing 
essentially from the descriptions given in the first edition. The best 
pavement for a fixed steep grade in a given climate, or how steep a grade 
will give good results with a given pavement, is often difficult to decide, 
and tables of actual instances are given in order that engineers may know 
where to find conditions similar to their own, and where they may examine 
certain pavements in actual use. The sections are made to accord with 
the latest records of methods and costs, and illustrations and tables are 
used for the sake of brevity. * * si« The statements of facts and 
opinions are meant for those who wish to profit by the varied experiences 
of practical road-makers. The book is clearly written, the printing is on 
good paper, and the illustrations show to advantage. 

Engineering Magazine, Neav York. 

This is a revised and enlarged edition of a work first published in 1894. 
In fact, there has been such an advance in methods of paving and road- 
making in the last eight years that the present book is practically a new 
one. 

It contains well-illustrated and up-to-date descriptions of the various 
kinds of pavements in practical use, with costs of laying and maintenance, 



COMMENTS ON SECOND EDITION. 

and many statistics for cities and localities all over the United States, 
with occasional reference to European experience. 

There are chapters on concrete base for pavement, block-stone pave- 
ment, wood pavement, vitrified brick pa\ement, asphalt pavement, bitu- 
minous-macadam pavement and broken-stone roads. 

One valuable feature is a description of simple and practical cement 
tests, which can be made by the city engineer himself, with an outfit cost- 
ing not over four dollars, and which can be stored in a pigeon-hole. The 
book is supplied with an index, and altogether it can be heartily recom- 
mended to all who are interested in city pavements. 

BY EMINENT ENGINEERS AND ROAD-BUILDERS. 

From Brigadier-General John M. Wilson, Chief of Engineers, U. S. 
Army, Retired, Washington, D. C.: 

* * * I have just laid down the valuable book upon ''City Roads 
and Pavements," and while I have not yet carefully read all its chapters, I 
have been greatly interested in that upon the "Concrete Base for Pave- 
ment." The subject is handled ably, clearly and thoroughly, and in a 
manner that will not only be very acceptable to the advanced engineers, 
but will be most advantageous to the student who proposes to make civil 
engineering his profession. 

I congratulate you upon having added to the literature of our profession, 
a work so replete with interesting and valuable information. 

From George W. Tillson, M. Am. Soc. C. E., Chief Engineer Bureau 
Highways, Borough of Brooklyn, City of New York : 

* * * The book is planned upon the right principle in showing 
what is actually being done in the different cities. That is what the differ- 
ent officials want to know. I see things in it, also, that are new, even 
newer than my own book of two years ago. I wish to congratulate you 
on the book. * * * 

From Frank V. E. Bardol, M. Am, Soc. C. E., Ex-Chief Engineer Dept. 
Public Works, Buffalo, N. Y.: 

* * * The w^ork is a valuable addition to our scant literature on 
this subject, and you are to be congratulated not only for the information 
contained, but for the way in which it is presented. 

From Andrew Rosewater, M. Am. Soc. C. E., City Engineer of Omaha, 
Nebraska : 
The book is gotten up in a very compact form, and for that reason is 
most convenient for ready reference of those w4io have occasion to inves- 
tigate subjects relating to road construction. 

From Edw^\rd P. North, M. .Am. Soc. C. E., New York City:^ 

I congratulate you heartily on getting so much valuable information 
into less than 200 w^ell-printed pages. What you say of Roman roads is 
the best that I have ever seen in print, covering their location, construction 
and value. * * * 

From Hon. Charles W. Ross, Ex-Member State Highway Commission 
of 'Massachusetts, West Newton, Mass.: 

I think that the new edition of your book, ''City Roads and Pavements," 
is just what has been needed for a long time. It seems to get right down to 
facts and figures and to simplify everything in such a way that it seems 
to me to be the best publication which I have seen. 

It will certainly be of great value to all road builders in the country, 
and it contains more valuable information on the subject, in all its branches, 
than anv other book of which I know. 



COMMENTS ON SECOND EDITION. 

From the late Hon. Henry I. Budd, State Commissioner of Public Roads 
of New Jersey, Trenton, N. J.: 

I have read with great interest your valuable publication — "City Roads 
and Pavements" — and find in it clearl}- set forth in terse terms about all 
that the centuries have given us in the line of improved roads. 

It will prove an indispensable text-book for new beginners and a valu- 
able assistant to those who have been some time in the traces. You have 
wonderfully succeeded in describing in a few words the difTerent materials 
used, the various forms of construction, and, in fact, all the foundation 
facts necessary for road impro\'ement. 

The illustrations, paper, print and general make-up of the book will make 
it an ornament for any library. 

From Hon. M. O. Eldridge, Assistant Director Office of Public Road 

Inquiries, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, 

D. C: 

I write to congratulate you upon the revised edition of "City Roads and 

Pavements, " which I have just finished reading. In my judgment, it is 

the best book ever written on the subject. The illustrations are well 

chosen, the tables are valuable and intelligible, and your treatment of 

street and road problems is concise, practical and accurate. The book's 

style will appeal to the average man, and its comprehensiveness to the 

road-builder and engineer. We are recommending it whenever inquiry 

is made for information relating to roads and pavements. 



rr 



CB 2Q 1909 



